


the tomatt collection

by strawberrysoliloquy



Category: Eddsworld
Genre: Drabbles, M/M, also this is super american bc im super american and i forget that they live in england, but i dont really care oops, guys for real this is actually really ooc lol, i have no idea when im going to stop updating this work, i just hint at it dont freak out, like a lot, lots of aus in general, lots of high school au, my headcanons change a lot over the course of this fic, oneshots, oof, request stuff if you want but it might take me an eon to actually write your request, some of these are super long and some of these are hella short, sometimes i hint at them doin much more ;)), sorry about my super american-ness, they also kiss and say i love you a lot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-30
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2018-10-25 21:41:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 56
Words: 60,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10773018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberrysoliloquy/pseuds/strawberrysoliloquy
Summary: [ permanent hiatus ]---this is basically a collection of tomatt fics, as the title implies smh. here u will find 10% angst, 90% fluff, and irregular updating schedules :))) nothing is connected unless i say so,,,i like comments,,,, a lot,,,, so maybe leave a comment? or three? :''))im probably never going to end this work oof ?? run while you can. run far away from me and my tomatt trash.





	1. where i can see you

it was a sunny saturday afternoon, but as usual, tom and matt were cooped up inside. tom had thought that it would be fun to watch insane zombie pirates from hell 4. again. matt had just rolled his eyes with a smile and said sure, even though they'd watched it about a hundred times.

matt felt tom's long fingers run through his hair methodically as some dude's head was sliced open on screen. matt flinched a little at the sight. this part always got him. tom chuckled at matt's sudden movement.

"scared?" he taunted playfully, wiggling matt's ear. matt giggled, batting tom's hand away.

"no," he replied, sticking out his tongue. "just a little startled is all." tom leaned in close, a wide grin spreading on his face. neither of them were paying attention to the movie anymore.

"nah, you're scared," tom teased again. matt laughed and then blew a breath of air in tom's face in an attempt to get him away.

"am not." tom booped his nose.

"are too." they both laughed at how silly they were being, their foreheads knocking together. matt looked at tom, smiling.

"okay, fine. maybe i am a tiny bit scared." tom returned the smile, rubbing matt's cheek with his knuckles.

"i'm right here to protect you," tom said, his smile widening into another cheeky grin. giggles burbled out of matt's mouth and laughter over took them both once again.

suddenly, there was a frantic vibration and tom pulled his phone out of his back pocket, still laughing a little.

"it's from edd," tom stated, looking at the phone screen. matt leaned over to see the phone also.

"what does he want? he's in the same house that we are." tom's phone loaded two texts from edd, one picture and some words. the picture was of tom and matt, laughing, their heads tilting together. it was taken at an angle, like edd had been in the hallway or something when he took it.

 _stop being gay where i can see you_ , the text read. another text popped onto the screen and matt nearly snorted with laughter.

_it makes me feel bad about being single + straight_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this book has a lot of my headcanons pfff,,,, one of them happens to be that tom & matt are both bisexual and edd's straight as a board lmao
> 
> also i have like,,,, 4 more so im just gonna,,, spam those //cOUGH


	2. sleep

tom normally could never sleep. insomnia plagued him like an overly persistent acquaintance. he often spent night after night staring at the ceiling in his dark room, praying for at least one small wink of sleep. nothing ever came, causing tom to be exhausted the next day. and the day after that, and the day after...

tom cast a long glance at his alarm clock. 12:47 am, it blinked at him. he let out a groan, burying his face into his pillow. thoughts blurred through his head. he was exhausted, exhausted to the point that it was nearly impossible to fall asleep. a sigh escaped him, and he flopped over to face the ceiling.

tom heard his bedroom door creak open. he turned to look at who it was, his brain instantly recognizing the silhouette of matt's body. matt's figure hesitantly moved towards tom's bed.

"i can't sleep," he mumbled, standing at tom's bedside, messing with the hem of his oversized shirt. even in the dark, tom could pick out the bashful expression on matt's face.

tom didn't say anything in response, just pulled the sheets back and patted the empty space by him. matt seemed infinitely relieved and crawled next to tom in bed, wrapping the covers around him.

they laid there, facing each other. tom put his arms around matt, pulling him closer. matt welcomed the embrace, nuzzling into tom's chest.

matt fell asleep within mere minutes, his breaths coming in rhythmic inhales and exhales. tom listened to matt's peaceful breathing for a few quiet moments, before his own eyes drooped shut, sleep enveloping him for the first time in a long time.


	3. grocery store

matt checked the grocery list again as he wandered into the nearest checkout line. _milk, cola, soap, pizza..._ matt's eyes flicked back and forth between the paper and the grocery basket several times before he deemed this shopping trip a success.

there were two people in front of him, but matt wasted his time by unloading the groceries onto the conveyor belt. he tapped his chin idly, placing a divider between his groceries and the groceries of the person in front of him.

matt gazed at his surroundings, absorbing the atmosphere. he spotted an arguing mother and child and then a young girl dancing and singing along to the music faintly playing over the loudspeakers.

"did you find everything alright?" asked the cashier, causing matt to snap back to attention.

"um, yes," matt responded, noticing that he was the only one in line now. the cashier smirked at him and began to scan matt's groceries.

"fancy seeing you in my checkout lane," tom said, examining a bag of peaches before punching in some numbers, the scanning machine making a beep. matt gave tom a crooked smile, resting his arms on the ledge above the cashier.

"i know. what a random coincidence." tom stopped scanning groceries and looked at matt. they stood there, gazing at each other and giving each other small smiles. tom reached out a tucked a stray piece of orange hair behind matt's ear.

"oh!" matt exclaimed, recalling a thought and pulling away. "i have coupons." matt dug through his back pocket and produced several crumpled paper slips. he handed them to tom, who in turn inspected them.

"well," tom drawled with a click of his tongue. "these are all expired, so i can't take them." matt pursed his lips, silently cursing edd for seemingly having a penchant for giving him expired coupons.

"but!" tom gave a small smile and squeezed matt's nose quickly. "if you give me a kiss, i'll let them slide." matt let out a sigh.

"tom, we're in the grocery store."

"so?" tom leaned forward, his lips quirked. matt rolled his eyes playfully, feeling a little desperate for a discount on his groceries.

"alright," he resigned, closing the gap between them and giving tom a brief peck on the lips. he moved to pull away, but tom's hand shot out and settled itself on the nape of matt's neck, holding him there.

tom kissed him, a real kiss, and the whole grocery store scenery seemed to melt away, tom and his warm kiss becoming the only thing matt cared about. tom tasted like mint chewing gum, and he bit matt's lower lip softly before pulling away.

a blush invaded matt's face, the grocery store setting fading back into his senses. the machine beeped as tom scanned the coupons and then typed something on his cashier keyboard. tom pointed at the card reader with a finger. matt swiped his credit card and scribbled his signature. tom handed matt his groceries in several plastic shopping bags, plus a receipt.

"have a nice day," tom said in a we'll-finish-this-later tone, making matt's ears heat. matt mumbled a flustered thank you, touching his lips with his fingertips, reminiscing about the kiss as he shuffled out of the checkout lane and out of the store.


	4. dinner

matt did not know how to cook. this was a known fact. edd did most of the cooking around the house, though everyone just mostly ate ready made freezer meals.

but still, everyone was totally and completely aware that matt was awful at cooking. he managed to burn everything he touched. once, edd came home to a mini fire blazing on the stovetop because matt had left to take a nap, forgetting that he had ramen noodles cooking.

despite all of this, matt had attempted to make dinner for tom and him while edd was out of town at a cola convention. the meal happened to be spaghetti with some sauce matt found on the fridge door. as matt set the table, he felt increasingly more confident about this dinner. it looked okay, and it didn't smell rancid, so it just might taste alright.

matt heard the front door open and tom call out, "i'm home!". he watched as tom walked into the kitchen and stop and stare at the table.

"you made food?" he asked in a relatively apprehensive tone, pulling his name tag off of his red polo shirt.

"yes, matter of fact, i did," matt replied, offering tom a smile before settling down into his chair. tom hesitated a beat before doing the same.

"don't look so scared," matt pouted, playing with his fork. "i tried my best this time."

"yeah," matt heard tom mumble under his breath. "that's what you said all the other times." they sat a few moments in silence before matt reached next to him and touched tom's hand lightly.

"please, just try it?" matt pleaded, sticking his bottom lip out. "for me?" tom sighed, picking up his fork in resignation.

"fine." matt watched tom twist his fork around in the spaghetti and then, after a beat, put it in his mouth. he kept staring as tom chewed the mouthful.

"it's actually..." tom said around his food, an odd expression on his face. "it's actually okay?" matt searched tom's face as he swallowed.

"you're lying," he said, starting to giggle. tom let out a huge cough, his brows furrowed.

"yes, i'm lying," tom replied hurriedly, pushing away from the table. "it's spicy as hell?? what did you do?" matt followed tom to the fridge, tom pulling out the milk and beginning to drink it straight from the jug. matt's eyes wandered to the items on the fridge door.

"i didn't do anything! i put salt, and pepper..." matt grabbed the sauce he'd used earlier off a shelf, it being nearly empty. "and then this?" tom stopped chugging the milk to see what matt was holding, giving him a disbelieving look.

"that's hot sauce. how can you mix that up?"

there was a silence, and then they both began to crack up.

"please don't try to cook again," tom said, kissing matt's forehead. matt nodded, still giggling.

"let's order chinese instead."


	5. cold

tom walked out of the kitchen and into the living room, taking a swig of smirnoff. the television was blaring an infomercial about skincare products, the woman on screen basically preaching the good news about a skin cream. tom wandered over to the couch and found matt lying on it, bundled in blankets.

"what are you doing?" tom asked, smiling at how much matt resembled a burrito.

"i'm freezing my butt off, that's what i'm doing," matt mumbled in response, his chin tucked under the mountain of blankets. tom let out a little laugh, taking another drink.

"it's almost 70 degrees in here." matt huffed.

"but i'm really cold." matt sat up on the couch, his eyes flicking between tom and the overexcited saleswoman. some of the blankets slipped off of matt, settling in his lap, and tom noticed that matt was wearing one of his hoodies.

"are you wearing my clothes?" matt gave him a so-what-if-i-am look and reached out his hand, appearing to be reaching for the alcohol. tom extended it to him, confused as to why matt wanted it. matt gave one of his trademark exasperated sighs.

"no, you bowling ball. come here. cuddle with me." tom grinned, setting his smirnoff on the coffee table and climbing next to matt on the couch. matt shifted the blankets so they covered the both of them.

tom wrapped his arms around the ginger, laying down and taking matt with him. matt touched tom's hand with his and tom hissed.

"damn! you are cold! your hands feel like ice." matt snorted, making tom smile and bury his face in matt's neck.

"and you're my walking heater. you feel so comfy and nice." tom planted a kiss on the side of matt's neck, earning a little giggle from matt.

"i'll be your walking heater anytime, as long as it means i can get this close to you." matt turned around to face tom, their noses touching slightly. even matt's nose was chilly. matt's thumb rubbed tom's cheek and they gazed into each other's eyes for a brief moment. tom gave matt a quick kiss on the lips, and matt squirmed with happiness.

"being with you makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside," matt murmured. "i don't think i'll ever be cold if i'm with you."


	6. shut up

matt had wandered into the kitchen for some food, but instead found tom nearly passed out on the kitchen table. he was holding a half empty bottle of god knows what and looked completely wasted.

matt reached over and plucked the bottle out of tom's hand, hearing tom give a whine. he sniffed the contents of said bottle, his nose scrunching up at the awful smell. perhaps pouring this down the sink would be better than putting it in the trash.

"gimme back my alcohol," tom slurred. matt made a chastising noise and began to pour the liquid down the kitchen sink.

"i think you've had enough for now." matt pulled a glass out of a nearby cupboard and filled it with water from the tap. he set it on the table, near tom's hand.

"bitch," tom muttered under his breath, his fingertips grazing the side of the cup. matt tsked and moved to the fridge, opening it and attempting to return to his original task of finding food.

"you should stop drinking. it's going to kill you someday," matt chided, taking out a container full of leftover lasanga and examining it, trying to see if he could tell how long it had been sitting in the fridge.

"shut up. don't tell me what to do." matt shrugged, deeming the leftovers safe to eat. he moved to the microwave and opened it.

"tom," he said in a slightly irritated tone, placing the container in the microwave and closing the door. he beeped some numbers into the machine and pressed start.

"shut up." matt leaned against the counter, feeling childish.

"make me." tom's gaze shot from the still-full glass of water to matt.

"i will," tom said in a low voice that was almost a growl. "it'll be hard to talk when your mouth is full." matt coughed loudly, his face heating up against his will. he turned to the microwave hurriedly, silently resolving to never talk to a wasted tom ever again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY IM DONE SPAMMING
> 
> watch me never touch this book again wjfksbdsm
> 
> no but i'll try to write more if i'm not busy or smth,,, i love these two way too much not to write anything else


	7. everything

edd stumbled into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes tiredly. his body screamed for coffee, and edd ambled towards the coffee pot. 

it was bright outside, the clock on the stove reading 10:46 am. edd let out a breath, pouring coffee grounds and water into the coffee machine. he turned it on, watching the water slowly drip into the coffee pot. edd rubbed a stain on the counter aimlessly, his mind exhausted from the lack of sleep. 

there was movement at the kitchen entryway and edd looked in that general direction. it was matt, his bright hair a mess and his clothes wrinkled, as if he'd just put them on in an extremely hurried fashion. 

"good morning," edd mumbled, examining matt's disheveled state. matt ran a hand through his hair and leaned against the doorframe. 

"morning," he replied lazily, his eyes flicking to the coffee pot, which was almost halfway full. "is some of that for me?" edd offered a shrug and watched tom appear behind matt. tom looked like a complete mess also, just standing there in his sweatpants. he hadn't even bothered to put on a shirt. 

the coffee machine made a clicking noise and edd moved to get some cups. he couldn't help but stare as tom whispered something into matt's ear, making matt blush and giggle softly. edd poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table. 

he kept watching tom and matt, sipping his coffee every so often. they whispered at each other for a couple more moments before tom suddenly gave matt's bum a firm squeeze, earning a noise from matt that sounded like a combination of a gasp, a yelp, and a giggle. 

tom walked over to the coffee pot and poured some coffee into one of the cups edd had left on the counter. he sat down at the table, matt proceeding to pour his own coffee and follow suit, sitting across from tom. 

they sat there in silence, the only noise being the occasional slurp. edd knew that tom and matt were playing footsie under the table and he could see the lovey-dovey looks they exchanged. 

edd stared into his coffee, realizing that being a third wheel kinda sucked. 

"so you guys were loud last night," edd deadpanned, noticing a plethora of marks on matt's neck and wondered why the heck he didn't notice them before. "i couldn't get a wink of sleep." tom and matt abruptly stopped what they were doing to stare at edd. matt looked humiliated and tom had an expression of embarrassment that edd very rarely ever saw on him. 

"you...you heard?" matt managed, his face a brilliant shade of red. edd rolled his eyes, his exhaustion making him feel salty. 

"yes. i heard everything." edd rubbed the side of his coffee cup before taking a sip, somewhat painfully recalling all the noises from the night before. he gestured to the both of them vaguely, nodding a little. "yes... i heard everything and i now wish i could unhear it all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edd is a salty third wheel and he'd appreciate it if tom and matt had sex a little quieter
> 
> i love my sweet bbs i can't do it akfnskdjjs


	8. bad dream

it was very late at night, or maybe very early in the morning, but tom couldn't tell. tom had been up for a while, not really used to sleeping up in matt's room. he looked at matt, who was mumbling in his sleep. he could see matt's brows knitted together even in the low light. 

matt made noises and faces in his sleep pretty often, so tom didn't think this time would be any different. however, when he heard a soft whimper come from matt, he knew something was at least a little wrong. tom sat up in bed, watching matt for a few moments to see if he was just imagining things. 

matt began to shift in bed, his whimpers becoming a little louder and more frequent. he was obviously having a bad dream, and tom debated whether he should wake him up or not. matt started to breathe heavy, quick breaths and his fingers gripped the top of the sheets. tom touched matt's shoulder lightly. 

"matt," he said softly. he then tapped matt's cheek a couple times, belatedly realizing that it was wet. matt's big brown eyes looked up at him, tears leaking out of them. tom laid back down, facing the ginger. 

"aw, baby, did you have a bad dream?" tom murmured, brushing matt's tears away with a soft brush of his thumb. matt nodded wordlessly, little sobs slipping out of his mouth. he buried his head into tom's chest, beginning to full-on break down. tom could feel matt's body shaking against his, and he rubbed matt's back in an attempt to soothe him. 

"it's okay," tom said, leaning his head on top of matt's. "it's all okay. i'm here." tom could feel matt's tears soaking through his shirt, and matt put his arms around tom, clinging to him as if it were the end of the world. 

"i've got you, baby. i've got you."

matt cried himself back to sleep, comforted by tom's soft touch and sweet words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes i do think matt has brown eyes,,, despite everyone else thinking he has green eyes akfnskdjd
> 
> brown eyes are cute


	9. sleepover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a high school au !! matt & tom are both 9th graders,,
> 
> additionally,, tom's mom is human here and she's mcheckin gorgeous :0
> 
> this is the longest chapter so far lol so enjoy the gays :3ccc

the school bus lurched to a sudden stop in front of a nice house with a slightly overgrown front lawn. tom tugged at matt's t-shirt sleeve.

“c’mon,” he said, getting out of the seat and promptly walking down the bus aisle. matt took a few seconds to comprehend what was going on, but realized and hurriedly followed tom out of the bus.

the school bus sputtered away as tom and matt trotted up the sidewalk to the front door. when they reached it, tom rummaged around in his checkered backpack for the house key.

“my mom is home right now, but she'll be leaving in a couple hours to hang out with some of her friends or something. she'll be out until pretty late.” matt watched tom unlock the front door and then hold it open for him.

“thanks,” matt said, stepping inside and looking around the foyer. he'd only been to tom’s place maybe three times and never saw much besides tom’s room and the bathroom, sometimes the living room. he'd finally gotten his parents to agree on letting him sleepover, so matt hoped to become more familiar with tom's house.

tom kicked off his shoes, revealing black socks, and matt copied his actions. he then followed tom out of the foyer into the living room, where a woman, who matt suspected was tom's mother, was sitting in a chair and reading a book.

“hey mom,” tom greeted, hesitating a beat before walking to her. she looked up from her book and smiled a very pretty smile.

“hi tommy,” she replied, making tom flush with embarrassment. “who’s your friend?” tom's mom hadn't been at the house the other times matt had come over, so matt moved to her, pushing his purple glasses up his nose a little.

“hello mrs. ridgewall! i'm matt.” matt gave her a smile and she returned it. it really was a gorgeous smile. to be honest, everything about tom's mother was pretty. her long black hair was gathered in a loose bun at the top of her head and her skin was light and practically blemish free. she had eyes just like tom's but with long, dark lashes lining them.

“well, hi matt! it's good to see that tommy here finally has a friend.” mrs. ridgewall tapped tom's chest a few times and matt heard tom groan “mooom”. matt stole a glance at tom and discovered that tom's cheeks and ears were tinted a light pink, which matt found quite cute. mrs. ridgewall laughed at tom's embarrassment and waved them away.

“go have fun, boys. just don't break anything.” she returned to her book and tom took that opportunity to quickly retreat. matt followed tom up the stairs and into tom's room.

“i told her to stop calling me tommy ages ago,” tom said with a grimace that showed his teeth a little. “she won't quit.” matt laughed softly, setting his bag down on the floor and sitting on tom's bed. he smoothed the checkered bedspread.

“i think it's very endearing. my parents never call me anything but matt, sometimes matthew when they're upset.” matt shrugged, but then brightened. “anyway, you never told me that your mom was so beautiful! she's absolutely stunning.” tom made a face, turning to his desk and setting his backpack on it.

“dude, that's…kind of weird,” tom ended up saying as he pulled a bunch of crumpled papers out of his backpack, practically tossing them onto an already-large pile of papers on his desk.

“so what do you want to do?” tom asked when he was done dumping papers onto his desk. matt considered this question.

“well, we could watch that new insane zombie movie. i heard it's pretty decent.” tom seemed to like this suggestion and grabbed his laptop, settling down next to matt on his bed.

“sounds like a good idea to me,” tom stated, logging into his computer and pulling up netflix.

they ended up watching the first two movies in a row. tom paused the movie occasionally to go downstairs to get food and they were well into the third movie when tom's mom tapped on the bedroom door and told them she was leaving. they didn't spare her a single glance, keeping their eyes glued to the laptop screen.

maybe fifteen minutes after, tom reached into the bag of chips the same time that matt did, their fingers brushing. matt felt himself blush and quickly removed his hand from the bag, grateful that it was dark in the room. tom appeared to be equally flustered, getting up from the bed.

“do you want something to drink?” he asked, moving towards the door. matt paused the movie.

“sure.” tom exited the room and in the silence, matt became aware of how hard his heart was beating. he put a hand on his chest, his face heating more, even though he wasn't sure why.

tom returned to the room carrying several bottles of something matt didn't recognize. he tossed one at matt, who barely caught it. he saw tom grin, his braces flashing in the low light.

“it's a wine cooler,” tom exclaimed, plopping down next to matt. matt gave tom a disbelieving look.

“tom?? we're only fifteen?? this is illegal??” tom rolled his eyes (or lack of eyes), opening his wine cooler and taking a drink, much to matt's horror. he gave matt an encouraging look, swapping alcohol with him.

“here. we can share,” tom resolved, putting the unopened bottle on the floor with the others. “it's good, i promise.” a sweet smell wafted from the bottle and matt bit his lip, whispering a quiet apology to his parents before taking a drink.

the alcohol tasted like a fruit he couldn't identify and it had a syrupy aftertaste. matt made a noise, not sure what to think, and handed the bottle back to tom. tom looked at matt for a couple of seconds.

“you're good?” matt nodded.

“y-yeah. i'm good.” tom looked at him a little more before playing the movie and taking another drink.

they passed the bottle back and forth, taking drinks as the movie played. soon enough, they were on their second bottle and fourth movie.

about thirty minutes into the fourth movie, matt wasn't even trying to pay attention anymore. his head spun and he felt oddly giddy. a giggle bubbled out of him, causing tom to stare at him. tom then began to laugh too, both of them now laughing for no reason at all. matt plunged his hand into the bag of chips and shoved a bunch into his mouth, still laughing. he managed to chew and swallow without choking on laughter and he grabbed for the almost empty bottle of wine cooler.

“i think i'm drunk,” matt giggled. tom held the bottle above his head and threw some chips at him, laughing.

“me too.” matt caught one of the chips in his mouth and made a show of eating it. he grabbed for the bottle again, his hand-eye coordination terribly off, and he fell into tom's lap. tom found this extremely funny, and matt did too, the two laughing like maniacs. matt opened his mouth and tom poured some wine cooler into it.

“it's hot in here,” tom said, taking another drink. matt blinked up at tom, swallowing the alcohol.

“yeah, it is,” he replied, feeling himself grin. “let's take our shirts off.” matt had no idea where this came from, his drunkenness taking control of his mouth and pushing whatever it wanted out of it. tom shifted, actually taking off his shirt. he threw the shirt across the room, reaching over on the nightstand and grabbing a piece of candy, which he popped into his mouth.

matt's hands moved on their own accord and, the next thing he knew, he was lying there in tom's lap, drunk and shirtless. they shared the remaining alcohol and then tom pulled a flask from nowhere.

“whassat?” matt slurred, grabbing for it. tom held it out of matt's reach and then drank from it with a taunting expression. matt made an irritated noise, grabbing for the flask again.

“stop being a bitch,” he whined, his brain’s filter completely inoperational. tom looked slightly taken aback by the swear, but otherwise didn't change. matt sat up and snatched the flask out of tom's hand, taking a drink of what he discovered to be something very dry and strong.

it became very dark and very late, and they were incredibly wasted. there was no more alcohol left, so they had started feeding each other food, though matt wasn't sure how it started. matt moved to give tom a piece of licorice.

“you're cute,” he heard himself say to tom, who was chewing. tom laughed, making matt laugh and snort a little.

“we’re being gay,” tom said, feeding matt some potato chip crumbs. matt giggled, his mind fuzzy and filled with clouds.

“i think i like being gay,” matt responded, leaning towards tom, their bare shoulders touching. tom didn’t say a word, just looked from matt's eyes to his lips quickly. with a breath, tom closed the gap between them. matt immediately put his arms around tom's neck. the kiss was soft and sweet and it made matt feel like he was getting drunk all over again. matt's tongue traced the metal of tom's braces and tom's hands traced the curves of matt's body.

tom pulled away, making matt whine unconsciously. they stared at each other, grasping for breath.

“i’m tired,” tom said on an exhale.

“me too.” tom laid down, matt snuggling next to him. tom draped an arm over matt, their bodies sharing warmth. matt laced his fingers with tom’s.

“i think i love you,” matt murmured, squeezing tom's hand. tom squeezed back.

“me too.”


	10. attention

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> highkey based off of an imagine your otp tumblr post that i don't have the link to

tom hummed along to the music playing on his headphones, scrolling through his instagram feed for maybe the tenth time in the past hour. he gazed at a picture that matt had posted of himself wearing tom's clothes, with a soft filter overlaying it. tom smiled as he looked at the photo, finding it undeniably cute. he went to like the picture, but then realized that he'd already liked it, probably during one of his nine other journeys through his feed.

he felt a weight settle into his lap and with a quick glance, found that matt had sat down on him. tom's gaze quickly moved back to his phone. he didn't say a word, continuing to hum along to the song he was listening to.

out of tom's peripherals, he could spot matt biting his lip teasingly and giving him a pouty look. matt's hands tugged at tom's shirt, but tom ignored him and kept looking at this phone.

matt gave a small dissatisfied whine, looking at tom with big puppy dog eyes. tom could tell that matt wanted attention, and tom did want to give him attention, but it was cute to see matt annoyed. matt looked like he was reevaluating his approach, biting his bottom lip the whole time. it was a struggle to not throw down his phone and just shower matt's adorable little face with kisses right then and there.

matt shifted his position, practically straddling tom now. tom felt his ears heat and he couldn't help but look up from his phone. matt gave him a smug look, his eyebrows arching as he licked his lips not-so-subtly. matt then made another pouty face, plucking tom's phone out of his hands and putting it down next to them on the couch cushion.

matt leaned forward and kissed the side of tom's neck several times. tom took in a sharp breath, taking out his headphones. matt kissed tom's neck some more before moving and brushing his lips softly against the underside of tom's chin.

tom made a noise deep in his throat, grabbing hold of matt and flipping him onto his back. matt gave a startled cry, tom pinning him down on the couch.

"attention you want, attention you'll get," tom rumbled, watching matt's cheeks redden. matt then proceeded to look tom straight in the eyes and make a very seductive face. tom nearly burst out laughing, just resorting to showering matt's adorable little face with kisses.


	11. restaurant kisses

tom and matt slid into the same side of the booth as the hostess handed them some menus.

"your server will be right with you," she said with a smile that was probably fake, before turning away and going back to her podium at the front of the restaurant. matt reached under the table and laced fingers with tom, smiling at how sweet the idea of a date was.

they'd been sitting at the house playing a video game, but after a while it got a little boring, so tom had suggested that they go out to eat something. he hadn't said that it was a date, but matt saw it as a date, since they drove up to a nice italian restaurant that tom knew that matt liked.

"what do you want to eat?" matt asked, pushing one of the menus towards tom. tom made a face like he was pondering the question.

"mmm, i want to eat..." tom's eyes settled on matt. "you." matt felt himself blush and tom squeezed his hand under the table.

"yeah?" matt replied, leaning up a little so their faces were closer. tom made an affirmative noise, smiling and leaning down.

"yeah." their lips brushed, and tom kissed him softly. matt giggled into the kiss, returning it. the small kisses they placed on each other's lips were light and sweet, but then tom let go of matt's hand and put his hand on the back of matt's neck. oh, so they were getting serious then.

the soft kisses evolved into a full-on make out session rather quickly. tom's fingers threaded through matt's hair and matt gripped tom's shirt in his hands. matt felt like he was on a high, his hands climbing up tom's shirt. tom's tongue slipped into matt's mouth and matt made a noise that was something between a moan and a giggle.

someone at the front of their table loudly cleared their throat, making tom and matt pull apart abruptly, startled. the waiter offered a smile that was more of a grimace of relative disgust. matt noticed that most of the other people around them were either staring or trying not to.

"what would you like to drink?" the waiter asked, eying them suspiciously. matt leaned into tom, who put his arm around him.

"do you really want to know?" tom said, it being more of a statement than an actual question. the waiter's cheeks reddened and he backed away from the table, looking disturbed and rather embarrassed.

after the waiter had left, matt craned up a little, giving tom a quick peck on the lips.

"let's go to mcdonald's," he murmured, smoothing tom's shirt. "we can make out in the drive through." tom grinned at this, nodding a little. they got out of the booth and held hands as they walked out the restaurant, bumping shoulders and smiling like dorks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank u snik for this wonderful idea i appreciate chu
> 
> also for those of you that have also read my book "people say that time heals all wounds",,,, don't worry i swear i'm workin on it,,, chapter 3 needs about 1000 more words and then it's good lol


	12. perfume

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is sort of angsty but everything turns out okay in the end
> 
> don't worry
> 
> matt doesn't cry forever

matt had learned to stay up and wait for tom to get home when he went out to drink. tom would make so much noise as he tried to drunkenly navigate the house on his own, and he had a terrible habit of turning on all the lights and never turning them off. when matt stayed up to greet him, everything was much quieter and edd wouldn't be such a crab in the morning.

the light of the television cast shadows all over the living room as matt checked his phone for maybe the hundredth time. usually tom sent a text message before he went out to the bar straight from work, or sometimes he would send drunken, incoherent messages while he was at the bar. tonight, though, matt hadn't received any text messages at all, which he found rather odd.

there was loud shuffling at the front door and matt quickly got up from his seat on the couch move to the front door. he unlocked and opened it, revealing a disheveled tom.

"it's almost one in the morning," matt murmured, leading tom into the house and shutting the door behind them softly. tom mumbled something matt didn't catch, rubbing his eyes. he then went to take off his jacket, but matt stopped him.

"here, let me do it," matt said, sliding the jacket off of tom's arms. the jacket smelled like booze, and something else. matt couldn't place it, but whatever it was, it made him feel extremely uncomfortable. matt shrugged off the nagging thought that something was very wrong.

"let's get you to bed, alright?" matt said, smiling a little at tom to hide his discomfort. tom made a tired grunt in response and off to sleep they went.

morning came as it always did and matt felt as uneasy as he had the night before. they had slept in tom's room since it was downstairs, and matt had draped the unsettlingly scented jacket over the dresser. sitting up in bed, matt looked from tom, who was out cold, to the jacket on the dresser. with some effort, matt got up out of bed and went over to the jacket. he gathered it in his hands and brought it to his nose.

the main smell he got was hard liquor, or what he'd imagine hard liquor to smell like, and then a slight whiff of something that smelled very expensive, like a fancy brand of perfume. matt nearly dropped the garment. _perfume?_

matt felt his heart plummet into his stomach. _oh god, please no_ , he thought, looking at the sleeping tom on the bed. _he wouldn't do that to me... would he?_

matt's vision blurred and he hurriedly put the jacket back on the dresser. quiet tears rolled down his face and he made his way back to the bed. he crawled under the covers, not bothering to wipe his tears. thoughts flooded into his mind. _what was she like? would she treat him better?_ just the thought of tom with someone else crushed him completely, and he began to cry harder.

matt pulled on tom's shirt, making tom groan and shift.

"tom," matt managed to say, his voice wavering. "am i good to you?" tom made a noise and blearily opened one eye. he didn't seem to process matt's state, being half asleep and all.

"yeah... of course," tom mumbled, taking matt's hand. tom's touch made matt feel a little sick, but he didn't pull away. he hated himself for thinking these awful thoughts, his body beginning to shake with sobs.

"d-do you love m-me?" tom appeared to snap awake at this, actually noticing matt's tears this time. tom looked panicked, not knowing what to do.

"of course i love you!" tom's free hand reached out and smoothed matt's hair. "you have no idea how much i love you. no one could ever take your place." tom sounded totally sincere, and matt almost choked on relief. his heart beat wildly inside his chest.

"oh, oh my god," matt breathed, overcome with a bunch of emotions at once. he let go of tom's hand, putting his hands on the sides of tom's face. his forehead met tom's and his tears were now tears of extravagant reassurance.

"oh thank goodness. i love you too. i love you so much. so, so, so much." tom seemed terribly confused, this being a very strange thing to wake up to. tom's fingers brushed matt's tears away, and matt hugged him tightly, making tom laugh a little.

"i have a killer hangover," tom said after a couple of moments. "let's have cake for breakfast." matt laughed through the few tears he had left, pressing his lips against tom's, the kiss tasting faintly of salt and alcohol.

"alright, my sweet pineapple. cake for breakfast it is."


	13. flowers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more high school au !! i really love high school aus hnnng
> 
> most likely takes place after "sleepover"

matt had been in his bedroom when he heard his mom call him from the front door. she was loud enough that he could hear her yelling over his music, but not what she had said. he put his headphones around his neck, walking to the door of his room. 

"what?" he yelled, rubbing his eyes under his glasses. 

"there's some boy at the door for you," his mom yelled back. matt felt his heart rate increase, knowing exactly who it was. 

"i'm coming!" he speed walked down the hallway and skidded into the wood-floored living room, nearly slipping. his mom stood at the door, her foot keeping it open. her hands were on her hips and she gazed at him suspiciously. 

"why does this boy have flowers?" she asked, her eyebrows arched. matt bit his lip, nervously trying to see past her. 

"uh..." matt started, looking everywhere but at her. his parents didn't know tom very well since he had only come over to the house a couple times, and they certainly didn't know that matt was dating him. in fact, matt hadn't even come out to them yet and he wasn't planning on doing so for a very long time. he was too afraid of rejection. 

"it's a silly thing we do," matt said hurriedly, becoming increasingly anxious. his mom stared him down for several more moments before moving out of the way and opening the door. 

"sure," she stated flatly, still looking suspicious and sort of not happy.

"it's completely platonic, mom," he assured, lying through his teeth, and slipping out the door with a small grin directed towards her. he shut the door behind him and looked at tom with a flustered smile. tom opened his mouth to say something, showing the bouquet of sunflowers to him, but matt quickly grabbed his arm and dragged him to the backyard. 

they had their own little spot where they hung out together, up on the roof. the tree in the backyard was tall enough for them to climb and it reached right up to the top of the house. matt leaned his head on tom's shoulder, fondling the flowers tom had brought him. 

"do you like them?" tom asked, putting his arm around matt. matt nodded, smiling. 

"yeah. they're sunflowers... my favorites!" matt snuggled into tom. "though, don't bring any more. my parents are getting suspicious." matt heard tom make a confused noise, both of them gazing at the setting sun.

"what do you mean, suspicious?" matt took his head off of tom's shoulder and looked up at him. 

"i didn't tell you?" matt then looked down at the sunflowers again, rubbing the bright petals with his fingertips. "i haven't told my parents that i'm bi. they're sorta homophobic, i think."

"oh, i see," tom replied, pulling matt closer to him. "you know you're gonna have to come out sooner or later, right?" matt sighed. 

"yeah. i know. i'm just... afraid. afraid that they're going to be disappointed in me when they find out." matt sighed again, feeling sort of lost. "i don't know. i wish i could live with you and your mom. she's so chill and cool and... i just don't wanna have to hide anymore, y'know?" tom kissed matt's forehead lightly, and matt melted into him. 

"thanks for putting up with my ramble," matt said softly, smiling a little. tom then kissed matt's cheek several times and matt giggled. 

"i love your ramble. it's cute." matt looked up at tom, and tom booped the tip of his nose. "exactly how i love you. you're cute." matt felt his whole body warm and he craned up, kissing tom gently on the lips. tom kissed him back, and when they pulled apart, matt butterflied his eyelashes against tom's cheek. 

"i love you too," he murmured, sincerely feeling in his heart that he loved this boy. it made him all fuzzy inside to know that this boy loved him back.


	14. ice cream

it was finally sunny and warm outside, and tom could actually go outside without a jacket and not die of frostbite or something. overjoyed that it was summer, tom decided to take matt out to the park to get some ice cream that he liked. 

"we have ice cream here," matt had protested as tom was dragging him out the door. when tom didn't let up, matt just huffed irritably and went along. 

the park wasn't that far from their house, maybe two or three blocks away, which was a pretty manageable walk. it was nice to have the chance to take in the scenery of their little suburban neighborhood. little kids would run past them every so often, giggling and yelling. tom let out a content sigh and wrapped his arm around matt's waist. matt looked at him, and then smiled a little. 

"i didn't know you liked being outside," matt said as they stopped at a crosswalk for a couple of moments before proceeding. tom laughed, feeling happy. 

"i like being outside to some extent," he replied. "i just don't like freezing my ass off, so warm weather cheers me up." tom felt matt's hand snake into his back pocket. 

"that's cute," matt remarked, giving tom a quick kiss on the cheek. they walked the rest of the way in a comfortable silence, enjoying each other's company. a refreshing breeze passed through the air as they walked into the park, the large trees casting shadows onto the ground. 

tom managed to locate the seemingly residential ice cream man, getting vanilla for him and this weird mint chocolate flavor for matt. they went and sat on the swings to eat. 

"i don't know how you like that," tom said to matt, who was happily licking his already-dripping ice cream cone. matt gave a goodnatured eye roll. 

"mint chocolate chip is good. it's the greatest, in fact."

"sure." tom watched matt drag his tongue along the surface of the ice cream and shivered despite the heat. matt seemed to feel his gaze, and then did it again while looking straight at him. tom had to look away, feeling flustered, and matt snickered, continuing to consume his ice cream in a rather seductive manner. 

"quit it. we're in public," tom mumbled, eating his own ice cream in a more dignified fashion. matt swayed a little on the swing, flicking the tip of his tongue on the rounded top of his practically finished dessert. matt gave a conspiratorial grin, leaning over and dipping one finger in tom's ice cream. he sucked on his finger thoughtfully and tom had to force himself not to stare. 

they finished their ice cream, and just sat there on the swings, swinging slightly. with a quick glance at matt, tom discovered that there was a small splotch of green ice cream on the side of matt's mouth. 

"you've got a little..." tom started, and matt made this soft "oh!" and brushed at the wrong side of his face. 

"no, the other side." matt looked at him, rubbing the other side, but still missing the spot. tom leaned over quickly, and licked it off. he felt matt's face heat, and tom found himself thinking that this mint chocolate flavor wasn't that bad. 

"quit it, we're in public," matt murmured, mimicking tom's words from earlier. tom laughed softly while matt turned his head, their lips brushing. 

the kiss tasted unsurprisingly like ice cream, but the flavor of mint chocolate chip was overwhelming. tom could feel himself slowly falling in love with this ice cream flavor. matt made it taste so good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next time they go for ice cream tom gets mint chocolate chip
> 
>  
> 
> hehehe


	15. edd's roommates

edd could swear that his roommates weren't capable of keeping their hands off each other. it was most likely physically impossible for them to sit somewhere, just sit there, be silent, and not coo at each other for more than a minute. 

edd couldn't go anywhere in the house without seeing or hearing them be gay. he'd attempt to watch tv with them, but not even five minutes would pass before he would hear them whispering sweet nothings, their heads tilted together. he'd walk into the kitchen to get a cola or something, and there they were, making out against the fridge. edd would just walk back out of the kitchen, silently suffering for several reasons. 

he literally had to plan when to use the bathroom, making sure that he never went into the bathroom when either one of them were taking a shower. once, he'd gone into the bathroom while tom was showering. he didn't get halfway through the door before he realized that matt was in the shower with him. 

"oh god..." edd had heard matt say breathlessly. "b-be gentle--" edd had swiftly evacuated the bathroom, deciding that he didn't need to pee after all. 

and the nights. the nights were the worst. sleep abandoned him every time. tom's room was next to edd's, and matt's room was above tom's, so edd could always hear everything. he didn't know if they even tried to be quiet, but either way, matt was loud. that boy sure could scream. it didn't help that the both of them were kinky as hell, so edd had heard a healthy dose of "d-daddy!!" and other assorted things. 

though, sometimes, they were quiet. edd would find them on the front porch, watching the clouds while snuggled together. in those moments, edd would smile, knowing that his roommates really meant it when they said "i love you" to each other. all their making out and sexing definitely got on edd's nerves, but he could also say, from a platonic point of view, that he loved them too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol a v short lil thing !! it was late & i couldn't sleep so i wrote this stupidity pfff
> 
> edd is most likely 45% coffee,, 45% cola and 10% salt
> 
> he's a smol salt bab


	16. caught

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> requested by auroratheharpist9 !! thank you for requesting this omg it was fun & painful to write bless your soul
> 
> it's another high school au chapter lol bc i'm in love with m teenage sons
> 
> takes place after sleepover and flowers :0

it had become a habit for matt to sneak tom into his house late at night. a very bad habit, at that, but they enjoyed each other's company while it lasted.

matt drummed his fingers on his knee impatiently, his gaze flicking from his alarm clock to the window at the far side of his bedroom several times. tom was late, and he was never late. it was 11:48 pm, almost midnight, and tom usually was at his window and in matt's room by 11:30. matt yawned, getting increasingly sleepy. maybe he forgot to come over tonight, matt thought, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. 

matt considered crawling under the covers and going to sleep, but as soon as he moved to do so, there was a light tapping on the window. matt instantly snapped to attention, tiptoeing over to the window and opening it up, pulling the curtains out of the way. 

"you're late," matt whispered as tom hefted himself into the room, brushing some stray leaves, from the hedge outside the window, from his pants. 

"sorry," tom whispered back, pulling matt into a hug, and matt forgave him right then and there. "my mom kept asking me where i was going so late. i ended up telling her that i was coming here and she gave me this look that probably meant 'don't do anything stupid'." matt laughed softly, pulling away from the embrace and leading tom to his bed. 

they never really did anything when tom snuck in. they mostly just talked, talked about school, life, plans to take over the world... it was just nice quality time that they spent together, whispering silly things to each other in the dark, the occasional kiss breaking bits of conversation. 

tom settled down on the bed next to matt, wrapping his arms around matt and pulling him close. matt gave a content hum, snuggling into his boyfriend. 

"i missed you," matt murmured, trying to pick out tom's features in the dark. tom chuckled, nuzzling matt's cheek. 

"you literally just saw me at school today." matt kissed the side of tom's mouth, his eyes fluttering closed. 

"i miss you every moment you're not with me, babe." their lips found each other in the dark, brushing softly. the kiss that followed was small and sweet, tasting faintly of sugar. tom's hand slid up matt's loose pajama shirt, resting on the small of his back. matt smiled into the kiss, pulling away for breath before leaning back in and kissing tom again. 

suddenly, the bedroom light flicked on, and tom and matt broke apart abruptly, scrambling away from each other. 

"what is going on here??" matt's mom exclaimed, looking exhausted and upset. matt's face flushed, his mouth hanging open in shock. there was no way he could talk his way out of this one. his mom leaned out of matt's bedroom door. 

"steven!" she yelled down the hall. she turned back to matt, then examined tom with a disdainful look on her face. "unbelievable." matt felt his whole body heat up, incredibly anxious and embarrassed. he could already feel himself ready to cry. this was honestly his worst nightmare. 

matt's dad stumbled into the bedroom and stood next to matt's mom, rubbing his eyes tiredly. 

"what's going on, honey," he mumbled, still half asleep and unable to assess the situation. his mom gave a very exasperated breath, pointing her finger accusingly at tom and matt in turn. 

"remember that boy i was telling you about? the one that brought flowers for matthew that one time?" matt shivered at the sound of his full name. he was in serious trouble. his dad made a noise of affirmation, seeming to wake up at this. 

"well, this is him." tom looked like he wanted to say something, caught off guard by this whole situation. matt's mom buried her fingers in her stringy blonde hair, advancing towards the bed. 

"so, matthew, do you want to tell me what's going on?" her glare was penetrating, and his dad joined his mom at her side, looking equally upset. matt stumbled over his words, unable to get anything out, tears pricking his eyes. 

"m-mom... i--" his mom whirled on tom before matt could piece together a coherent sentence. 

"and you! what are you doing in my house?" she cried, her foot stomping on the floor once. tom looked at matt's mom for a moment, then looked at matt, speechless. when no one said anything, matt's mom seemed to get even more frustrated with the whole situation, her hands out of her hair now, her nails digging into her palms. 

"matthew," matt's dad demanded, taking control so his mom wouldn't get any more upset. matt looked at his parents, his chest tight. 

"i-i'm sorry..." matt mumbled finally. "i've been sneaking my..." matt gave tom a pleading look, begging him for forgiveness for what he was about to say. "...m-my friend... into the house." matt's mom let out a sudden bark of mocking laughter. 

"your friend? your friend??" she waved her hands around dramatically. "you've been sneaking your 'friend' into the house at midnight? i don't think so!" she stabbed her finger in matt's direction. "i do not think so!" his mom's tone really hit a nerve and matt started to cry, softly blubbering nonsense. 

"mom--" she cut him off, holding up a hand, apparently not done with her rant. matt could feel his dad's silent disappointment and it crushed him. the tears came harder.

"i am so angry with you, matthew. you have no clue. you're not a kid anymore! you can't just do something completely stupid like this and expect me to just shrug it off! you've been sneaking this boy into the house very late at night and god knows what the hell you're doing. this is just... irresponsible and disgraceful! i swear if you--" matt squeezed his eyes closed, trying to block out the aggressive lecture. he felt tom's gaze on him, and when tom's hand reached out and covered his, something inside of him broke.

"i'm gay!" he blurted out loudly, sobbing now. his mom froze, her words coming to a standstill. matt felt tom squeeze his hand encouragingly, and he dared to look his parents in the face. 

"i like boys and i like girls," he said, taking a deep breath and trying to keep his voice steady through his tears. "so i'm bi. i hope you're okay with that." matt took another deep breath. he laced his fingers with tom's, smiling weakly. 

"and this," he started, nodding his head in tom's direction. "this is my boyfriend and i love him." the tension in the room was so thick, but he stared at his parents with defiance. 

"i love him," he repeated. "you better be okay with that." 

there was a very long silence, an unbearably long silence. matt belatedly realized that his mother was quietly crying, tears running down her cheeks. 

"get out of my house," she stated bluntly to tom. tom got up from the bed, but matt didn't let go of his hand. tom looked back at matt, and then matt got up too. 

"i'm so proud of you," tom mumured very softly, wiping matt's tears. matt searched tom's face for a moment, quickly craning up and kissing tom. he heard his parents give a simultaneous noise, and he proceeded to kiss tom as if they were the only ones in the room. 

tom pulled away, smiling stupidly, and matt released his hand. 

"see you tomorrow," tom said, moving to the window, even though he could have just used the front door. matt smiled back, watching him. 

"bye," he replied, looking at his parents for a brief moment before he said his next words. "i love you." tom jumped out of the window onto the soft grass below, blowing a kiss to matt. 

"i love you too," he called back before retreating into the night. matt watched him leave until he blended into the darkness, and then squared his shoulders, facing his parents with a small sniff. 

time to face the music.


	17. exhausted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another high school au chapter pfff i'm sorry i've fallen in love and it's b a d
> 
> matt is a piece of salt when he's tired fyi
> 
> the saltiest salt of all the salts

tom walked into his homeroom about ten minutes before class started, moving to his seat in the back. matt was already there at his own desk, practically asleep with his head buried in his arms. tom sat down in his chair, leaning over and rubbing matt's back. matt made a sleepy noise, shifting. 

"didn't sleep last night?" tom asked, his hand still lingering on matt's back. matt shook his head, his glasses slightly askew. he rubbed at his eyes with his hoodie sleeve. 

"no," he mumbled. "i stayed up all night studying for finals. i'm so exhausted." tom started to run his fingers through matt's bright, albeit messy, hair.

"you'll do good on your finals, i know it." matt smiled faintly, sitting up in his seat and stretching with a yawn. tom examined matt's state, and he truly was a mess. his hair was all over the place and there were dark bags under his eyes. he smelled a little like coffee and sugar, and his hoodie was really big on him. tom's eyes widened. 

"hey! are you wearing my hoodie?" matt stuck his tongue out at tom, adjusting his glasses. 

"yeah. i've had it for a while," matt replied, sleepily snuggling into the blue fabric. tom recalled that one of his hoodies had miraculously disappeared from his closet. he'd looked all over the place for it, but he hadn't thought that matt had it. matt looked so tired and small in the oversized garment, and it was truly adorable. 

the bell gave a shrill ring, signifying that class started in less than a minute. students began pouring into the classroom and settling in their seats. they had a final in this class and tom watched matt sit up straight and smooth out some prevalent wrinkles in his hoodie. 

"good luck kiss?" tom asked, and matt grinned, leaning across the space between the desks. they kissed, lingering a couple seconds before pulling apart and mentally preparing themselves for the test. 

after school, tom met up with matt at his locker, where matt was blearily putting away his biology book. he seemed even more tired than earlier, his backpack slung over one shoulder. tom went over and put his arm around matt's shoulders. 

"i need coffee," matt mumbled, shutting his locker door. "i'm so fucking tired and i'm going to fall asleep right here." tom looked at the ginger, surprised that he was so sleep-deprived that he was swearing. tom gave a sympathetic noise, kissing matt's temple lightly. 

"can i come home with you?" matt asked, fiddling with the long sleeves of his hoodie. "i don't want to have to deal with my parents when i get home." tom silently wondered what was going on at matt's house, but decided not to ask because of the situation at hand. tom nodded, starting to walk with matt to the entrance of the school. 

"sure, you can come with me. my mom won't care." matt squinted when they reached outside, not used to the sudden light. tom looked at his boyfriend's face as they waited at the sidewalk for the bus. 

"you look like you're going to kill someone," tom said teasingly. matt gave tom a glare, gently shoving tom away from him. tom laughed, grabbing matt's hand and interlacing their fingers. 

"if you don't quit, you're going to be the one i'm killing," matt grumbled under his breath, just loud enough for tom to hear. 

"you're cute when you're upset." matt huffed, acting like he wasn't in the mood, but he smiled a little anyway. 

"fuck you," the ginger said, making a face at tom. "you're lucky that i love you, otherwise i would have stabbed you by now, braceface." tom snorted with laughter, bumping shoulders with matt as the bus rumbled up to the sidewalk. tom let matt climb into the bus before he did, and he followed him down the aisle to a seat in very back. matt crumbled down onto the seat, and tom followed suit, but with a little more class. 

"hold me," matt whined. "i'm gonna take a nap." tom smiled dorkily, patting his thigh and matt climbed into tom's lap, snuggling into tom's chest. tom wrapped his arms around the smaller male, and matt let out a quiet sigh. 

"i love you, baby," matt murmured, his eyes drooping shut. matt gave tom's chin a sleepy kiss, before falling asleep quietly. the bus started to rumble down the street, and tom squeezed matt's arm a little. 

"i love you too." he watched matt's chest rise and fall methodically, astonished that he'd fallen asleep so fast. he rested his own head on matt's mess of orange hair, and ended up dozing off himself.


	18. a typical morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this is an au that i made ((at least i think that i was the first one lol)) in which tom & matt are parents to a smol 7 yo edd and paul n pat are parents to a smol 7 yo tord
> 
> tord n edd are besties and shenanigans ensue
> 
> ive just resorted to calling it the eddsworld family au bc that's sorta what it is but,,,,,
> 
> enjoy lol !!

matt's phone started to make noise, vibrating on the nightstand. matt groaned, detaching himself from tom and turning over to sleepily grab for his phone. he managed to get it, stabbing his finger on "stop alarm". matt yawned, sitting up. it was 6:50 in the morning, and another day had begun.

after a few minutes of lingering in bed, matt got out from under the covers, burying his toes into the soft carpet. he tiptoed to the door, not wanting to wake tom, who usually didn't get up until about 7:20. matt slipped out the bedroom door, quietly shutting it behind him, and walked to edd's room down the hall. edd's door creaked loudly when matt opened it and he cringed. _gotta get tom to fix that._

edd rustled in bed at the noise, rubbing his eyes as he sat up against his headboard.

"time to get ready for school, little man," matt said with a smile, leaning against the doorframe. edd whined in disapproval, but got out of bed anyway, trotting over to matt. edd wrapped his small arms around matt's middle, and matt reached down and hefted him up onto his hip. edd giggled, his hair all over the place.

"can i have waffles for breakfast, daddy?" edd asked as they journeyed down the hall and into the kitchen.

"sure, you can," matt replied when they got there. matt leaned down, allowing edd to jump down to the ground and run over to his place at the table. matt's shoulder and arm ached slightly without edd's weight. matt noted with a small bit of sadness that edd was getting a little too big for him to carry. edd was growing so fast.

"today, we're gonna take a spelling test," edd informed as matt took a box of frozen waffles out of the freezer.

"yeah?" matt said. "think you'll do alright?" matt saw edd give a shrug out of the corner of his eye.

"i don't know. i'm not very good at spelling," edd admitted, drumming his fingers on the tabletop. matt put a waffle in the toaster and pushed the button down. he went and got a plate and a plastic cup from a cupboard, going back to the fridge for the milk and the maple syrup.

"didn't you say that tord was good at spelling? maybe he can help you." edd brightened, seemingly glad that the conversation topic was now his friend.

"yeah!! tord's real good at spelling. he can even spell 'because'! without writing it down! i think he can spell 'favorite' too, but i can't remember." matt went to the table, placing the waffle and glass of milk in front of edd. edd gave him a toothy grin.

"thanks, daddy!" matt smiled, getting a fork for edd and setting that in front of him too.

"you're welcome, baby. just try to eat fast. you still have to brush your teeth and get yourself dressed." edd mumbled an 'okay' through his mouthful of syrupy waffle, and matt turned to leave the kitchen, nearly bumping into tom on his way.

"well, good morning, husband," matt said teasingly, letting tom quickly kiss him on the cheek. tom shuffled to the fridge, taking out the orange juice and proceeding to drink it straight from the carton.

"tom. don't do that. other people drink from that too," matt chided, watching tom tiredly shrug with apathy and keep drinking.

"morning, papa," edd said through his food, his fork clinking on the plate. matt shook his head in disapproval at his son.

"no, edd. don't talk with your mouth full. it's impolite and sorta gross." edd just blinked at him, shoveling another forkful of waffle into his mouth. matt sighed, leaving the kitchen to get dressed. these boys were impossible.

matt took his sweet time getting dressed, figuring that edd could handle doing the same for once, but apparently he was wrong. when he was done getting dressed, matt went into the kitchen to discover that edd was still at the table, blabbering on and on about something to tom, who was also sitting at the table.

"edd!" matt snapped, sweeping away the dirty dishes to the sink. "get dressed! we don't have time for dawdling. the bus comes in less than fifteen minutes." edd got down from his chair and gave tom a curious look.

"papa, what does... dawdling mean?" tom took a sip of his coffee, opening his mouth to answer, but matt cut him off before he could speak.

"edd, i'm serious. you don't want to miss the bus." edd scampered out of the kitchen at that. matt finished washing edd's dishes and wiped his hands on a rag, turning to tom.

"stop encouraging him. he needs to learn that he can't just sit around and still be able to get to places on time." tom looked at him with an amused expression.

"i sit around and still get to places on time," he replied, taking another sip of his coffee. matt rolled his eyes, giving an exasperated huff.

"that's not the point here, tom." matt walked over to the table and sat on tom's lap, resting his head on tom's. "i don't want our son to grow up to be like you." tom put his arm around matt, and matt welcomed the embrace, closing his eyes.

"oh? and why not?"

"because there can only be one you in the world, and that's how i like it." tom smiled, matt opening his eyes and smiling back. their heads tilted together, and their lips softly met.

the kiss tasted like coffee spiked with vodka, but matt actually didn't mind for once. matt heard tom set down his coffee cup and he felt his hand cup the side of his face. matt melted into tom's touch, setting his own hands on tom's shoulders.

there was a loud thump, and matt broke the kiss to examine the situation. edd was standing at the kitchen doorway, looking uncomfortable, his backpack on the floor.

"i'm ready," he said, the uncomfy expression still not leaving his face. matt got up from tom's lap, and while he was about to walk away, tom gave matt's butt a smack. matt jumped with a giggle, shoving tom's shoulder and going to edd.

"brush your teeth?" he asked, leading edd to the front door.

"yeah."

"got your homework?"

"yeah." matt crouched down to edd's height, booping him on the nose.

"gonna have a good day today?" edd grinned and nodded.

"yeah!" matt smiled and got up from his crouch, opening the door. right on time, the bus coughed up the street and edd yelled a goodbye as he ran down the sidewalk. about halfway to the bus, edd did a full turnaround, running back to matt. before matt could protest, edd gave him a hug.

"i love you, daddy," he said. matt rubbed edd's back with a smile.

"i love you too, honey. now go to school." edd pulled away, waving as he ran down the sidewalk again. matt gave a small wave back, watching edd bounce into the bus before he shut the front door. he felt tom sidle up behind him and put a hand on his waist. matt leaned back and nuzzled tom's cheek a little before moving out of tom's grip. tom made a dissatisfied noise, grabbing at matt as he walked away to the kitchen. matt laughed, brushing him away.

"no. i have to run errands and go to work. i don't have time for this," matt explained. tom followed him into the kitchen, whining "c'mon". matt opened the fridge and then closed it when tom suddenly put his arms around his waist and lifted him into the air. matt cried out, then started to laugh.

"tom, put me down!"

"no. spend time with me." matt kicked his feet in the air. tom managed to turn him around so their bodies were facing. matt instinctively wrapped his legs around tom, smoothing tom's hair.

"i have things to do, he murmured, leaning down a little and allowing tom to kiss him. _just five minutes_ , he told himself as they began to make out against the fridge.

the errands didn't get done and matt got to work late, praying that no one would notice the newfound marks on his neck.


	19. first kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ok wtf i just discovered that you can put notes at both the beginning and the end im]
> 
> this was requested by pulushie !!! i had a lot of fun writing this and i was like,,,, a blushing mess by the end >v<
> 
> idk when exactly this would take place? possibly,,,, before sleepover? the sleepover chapter sorta screws with the whole timeline but,,,, eh,,, i guess
> 
> oh n also!! this is another high school au chapter smfnakfbjwdj imsorryilovethem

tom had said that he would pick matt up at eight o'clock. matt had been sitting on his doorstep since 7:50, feeling all jittery. in their three weeks of dating, tom hadn't taken matt on any dates yet, beside their first one at the park, which didn't really feel like a date honestly. 

tom had walked up to him at his locker this afternoon and told him that he wanted to take him somewhere later tonight, and matt had agreed, his heart beating a million times faster than it should have been. matt had ran straight into his house as soon as the bus dropped him off, quickly informing his parents that he was going to be out later before shutting himself in his room. 

he spent a while choosing what to wear, settling on some jeans and a flannel after way too much deliberation. he ended up being ready hours before tom was actually going to come, so matt just gazed out his window for a long time, daydreaming about what kind of date this would be. 

7:50 came and went, and here matt was, fidgeting on the front steps. he checked his phone for probably the fifteenth time that minute, 8:00 looming closer and closer. the cool evening breeze rustled his hair and matt took off his glasses and played with the frames out of nervousness. 

after a couple more moments, matt spotted headlights from down the road, and his feet danced on the concrete sidewalk under him. a dark blue car pulled up to the house and tom proceeded to climb out of the driver's side. 

"hey," he called to matt, who stood up hurriedly, putting his glasses on and going to the car.

"hi," matt replied shyly, tucking a stray, windswept hair behind his ear. tom walked around the front of the car, opening the passenger door, and matt smiled, getting in. 

"you already have your license?" matt asked when tom got back into the car. tom made a nervous laugh, starting the car and driving down the street. 

"mm... not really. i have my learner's permit, but not my license," tom admitted with a slight shrug. "i'm not supposed to be driving without my mom, but she told me that i could drive without her, even though it's... not legal." matt laughed, gazing out the window to prevent from staring at tom. 

"your mom is cool," matt said. "just don't get caught by the police or anything." matt saw tom's braces glint in the low light out of the corner of his eye when tom smiled. 

the rest of the drive went by with idle small talk and the occasional singalong to a song playing softly on the radio. matt didn't ask where they were going, wanting it to stay a surprise. tom was a pretty decent driver, and he was rather skilled at parallel parking, as matt discovered when they parked on the side of the road between two cars. 

tom turned off the car, the keys jingling as he slid them into his back pocket. he turned to matt with a mysterious smile on his face. 

"we're here." matt looked out the car window, but tom made a chastising noise, signifying for him not to do that. matt watched tom get out of the car and go around the front, opening the passenger door for him again. tom took his hand to help him out of the car, and shut the door, not letting go of matt's hand. matt felt his cheeks heat. after three weeks, he still was adapting to the feeling of his hand in someone else's. 

matt let tom lead him down a sidewalk and into a large gate. matt looked around, a smile coming onto his face. 

"a rose garden?" he said, looking at all of the rows of flowers illuminated by small lights on the grass. there was a fountain in the center of it all, small ducks swimming around in the water. it smelled wonderful and it was just so pretty. tom squeezed matt's hand a little. 

"yeah. you said you liked flowers, and i heard that the rose garden is really nice at night," tom replied as they walked down an aisle lined by different colored roses.

there weren't many people in the rose garden, so it was a very personal experience. matt found himself enjoying tom's company a lot, and he liked how tom smiled when he gushed about how beautiful a flower was. 

they spent a long time wandering about, holding hands in the quickly fading sunlight. tom suddenly tugged matt in one direction, and matt gave a confused noise, letting tom gently drag him along. tom pulled him under a rose covered arch, and then proceeded to take matt's other hand in his. matt searched tom's pitch dark eyes, not really knowing what was going on.

"i really like you, you know?" tom murmured, rubbing matt's hands with his thumbs. matt stared at the taller male, his heart picking up speed. 

"i really like you too," matt whispered after a beat of hesitation, feeling his ears and cheeks heat. the corners of tom's mouth quirked up and he interlaced their fingers. it was silent, the only sound seemingly being matt's frantic heartbeat.

"can i... kiss you?" tom asked cautiously, scanning matt's face in the dim light. matt's breath hitched suddenly, his heart going a million miles an hour. 

"y-yeah," matt managed to stammer quietly, completely flustered and probably a blushing mess. tom waited a brief moment before leaning down, his lips grazing matt's. could tom hear his heartbeat hammering against his chest?

they kissed. it was light and sweet and everything matt had ever imagined. tom's lips were soft and matt found himself kissing tom back as if he'd kissed someone plenty of times before. tom wrapped his arms around matt, drawing him close. matt felt like the was floating, his heart fluttering in his ribcage. 

if all kisses with tom were going to be like this, matt was going to kiss him everyday until he died. 

a breeze ghosted through the rose arch, sending red petals drifting in the air. they pulled apart, matt releasing a breath he wasn't aware he was holding. 

"that was my first kiss," matt mumbled, his lips tingling. he felt so happy, he could cry right then and there. tom kissed matt's temple lightly, holding matt close. 

"mine too," tom said against matt's hair. matt rested his head on tom's shoulder, his eyes closing. he wished this moment could last forever.


	20. oh no

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayeee another high school au
> 
> sorry if you're sick of the hs au i really like it oops
> 
> ummm you can place this in whatever point on the timeline you'd like??? this really could go anywhere.

matt woke up in a bed that wasn't his own. he barely registered this, blearily turning over in an attempt to fall back asleep. he was exhausted and everything ached. he had a hammering headache, one that he could feel behind his eyes and made him a little nauseous. 

when matt turned over, he came in contact with a warm, fleshy figure. enjoying the warmth, matt snuggled up close to said figure. at his touch, the figure made a soft mumble, shifting slightly. matt could hear steady breathing that didn't happen to be his. 

matt's eyes snapped open. this figure was a person. he was sleeping with a person. he quickly pulled away from the person, sitting up in the bed that didn't belong to him. his headache pounded and it was very hard to think. a cool gust of air hit matt's skin. matt stiffened. he didn't have clothes on. he was sleeping. with a person. and with no clothes on. 

his heart rate accelerated gradually, his eyes widening. the sheets touched his everywhere and all of a sudden, it wasn't very comfortable. matt's gaze flicked to the figure sleeping beside him, recognizing the creamy skin, the brown hair, the ear piercings. he knew this person. he knew, but he couldn't seem to place who it was exactly. 

the room around him was so familiar. the bass in the corner of the bedroom and the checkered bedspread made matt blink several times, slowly. he was in a familiar room, sleeping with someone he knew, and was without clothes. it all didn't make sense. 

until it made sense. matt's head felt like it was about to explode, everything coming to him at once. 

"oh no," he whispered to no one in particular, perhaps to himself. the person he knew, who matt ultimately recalled as tom, his boyfriend, stirred. after a couple quiet moments, tom moved to face the ceiling, his head turned to look up at matt. it was quiet for some more time. tom rubbed at his eyes, or lack thereof. 

"fuck," tom mumbled under his breath as he sat up. matt stared at his boyfriend, the one that he had probably done the thing with, while tom seemed to be trying to piece together the situation. 

"you slept over?" tom asked after a long pause, looking at matt. 

"i guess so," was what matt replied with. tom licked his lips, processing this. 

"we got wasted?"

"i'm pretty sure."

"and then we...?" tom let the rest of the sentence hang in the air around them. matt stared at his uneven fingernails for a while, not responding. 

"i think we did," he finally said, his whole face erupting in a blush. he couldn't remember much of what had happened the night before, but what he could remember was that it felt... really good. 

"oh no," was all tom answered with. matt nodded, his headache making this whole first time situation not better at all. 

"i don't think i regret it though," matt resolved after another silence, the air conditioner whirring quietly. tom reached over and held matt's hand in his, and suddenly everything was right in the world. 

"nah... me neither," tom said in agreement, looking a little wistful. he was probably wishing that he had been sober enough to remember all of what had happened, just like matt was. 

maybe it was better if they didn't remember.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hit me up on insta :: @doodle.mp4
> 
> or maybe hmu on paigeeworld :: @smolbeandoodle
> 
> i post all my gay shit on paigeeworld so
> 
> go to paigeeworld


	21. makeup and jobs

tom was laying on the couch one day, watching tv but not really paying attention. his thoughts were wandering, so the television was just background noise. whatever thoughts tom was thinking about were abruptly interrupted by matt running into the living room, looking frantic. 

"why are you running," tom deadpanned, his train of thought being thrown off its tracks. matt made an aimless turnaround, his eyes darting across the room. 

"have you seen my car keys?" he asked. "i have to go to work and i don't wanna be late, but i can't find my-- oh!" tom watched matt rush over to the bowl on the small table by the front door and snatch his keys out of it. 

"work?" tom questioned. "you have a job?" previously, edd and tom had been the only ones with jobs in the house. edd raked in quite a bit of income with his job at the animation company, while tom just worked at the local grocery store. matt was usually unemployed, mostly because he was largely unqualified, due to the fact that he didn't finish college. 

"yes, as a matter of fact, i do have a job now!" matt stated, walking over to stand in front of the couch with his hands on his hips. tom squinted a little. matt's hips seemed... thicker than before, the same being said for his thighs. matt was all curvy now and it was actually kind of nice. tom struggled to keep this new development to himself, but managed. 

"and where is this job? i want to go over to where you work and loudly flirt with you while you attempt to get your stuff done." matt rolled his eyes, his eyelashes fluttering a little. was that mascara?

"don't do that. you're already a distraction as is," matt said, half smiling. tom was fifty percent sure that matt was also wearing a very light shade of lipstick. "i work at the department store, in the mall. i started last tuesday. i think i like working there, i made a friend." tom tried not to show that he was studying matt's face, but ultimately gave up. 

"hang on," he said, motioning for matt to get down on his level. matt sat down on the floor in front of him, and tom took a moment to examine matt's face. 

"are you wearing makeup?" matt brightened, smiling. 

"you noticed! what do you think?" matt struck a tiny pose and tom laughed. "i didn't put a lot though, just mascara, some lip color, and a little blush." tom studied matt's features again. did he like it? it was different, for sure. 

"yeah, i think i do like it. you look cute." matt beamed, clapping his hands. 

"my friend from work taught me. she works in the makeup department. her name is laurel, did i say? she's got blue hair. she's pretty cool." matt then realized he was rambling, and that he was very late for work. he gave tom a gentle smack on the arm, getting up. 

"talking to you is making me late!" he exclaimed, sticking his tongue out at tom. tom got up from the couch and followed matt to the front door. 

"wait," tom said just after matt stepped out the door. the ginger huffed, eager to leave the house and get to work. 

"what is it, tom? i have to go." tom pulled matt back inside the house, giving him a very long and rough kiss. when tom finally broke the kiss, matt was breathless and flustered, his face a brilliant shade of red. he nearly tripped over his own feet on his way back out the door. 

"have a nice day at work, babe," tom called after him, smirking. matt made a little finger wave over his shoulder, flusteredly fumbling for his keys so he could unlock his car and drive away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay this is just a huge filler i'm sorry oops
> 
> ive recently fallen in love with the hc that matt wears makeup ??? and that he's actually sorta thicc ????? ????? it's my guilty pleasure //sobs
> 
> i wanted to post this before i made another oneshot or smth in which something is said about matt's makeup and then everyone is confused snskdjs idk tbh i do not know 
> 
> um but
> 
> does anyone remember laurel
> 
> pls tell me someone remembers laurel,,,,, i really love laurel omg you guys need to remember her
> 
> i might add her in more of these idk yet
> 
> anyway !! that's all for now :')


	22. questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> high school au once again
> 
> tom's not actually in this one oops but he's mentioned
> 
> it's mostly just matt & edd talking

"you guys fucked??" edd exclaimed with something that sounded like a blend between shock and happiness. matt's face erupted in a blush, his hands shooting out to cover his friend's mouth. 

"shut up!" he hissed. he could feel the stares of the people around him in the cafeteria, and it was extremely embarrassing. "don't say it so loud." edd batted matt's hands away, laughing. 

"but you did though, right?" matt turned back to his lunch, taking a bite of his chicken salad sandwich. edd propped his elbow on the lunch table, resting his chin on his palm after shaking his way-too-long bangs out of his eyes. edd's expectant stare bore through him. 

"... yeah, i mean, i was super drunk, but--" edd practically squealed, leaning close to matt. 

"what did it feel like??" edd pressed, eager for details. "did it hurt? did you scream?" edd's eyes widened, a grin spreading across his face. "is tom secretly into bdsm???" matt made a face at edd, swallowing. 

"i don't even know what that means, and i don't think i want to know. why do you even care?" edd snorted, grabbing some carrots off of matt's lunch tray. 

"come on. you know i'm probably going to stay a virgin forever. the least you could do is share your first sex experience with me." matt almost choked on his next bite of sandwich. 

"do you have any shame?? lower your voice. jesus." edd rolled his eyes, brushing his bangs away for the thousandth time that hour and elbowing matt in the side. 

"you don't have to tell me everything," edd pleaded. "just tell me something." matt huffed, setting down his sandwich and turning to edd. 

"fine." edd brightened, giving a little clap. matt was silent for a moment, recollecting the eventful happenings of that night at tom's house. he felt himself blush. 

"i remember that we got really wasted after it got dark, and we giggled and made out for a long time. i think... um... something happened, and then we were all over each other all of a sudden and then it got really warm in tom's room." matt glanced at edd, who seemed to be fully enjoying this explanation. matt was sort of afraid that edd was going to put this in a fanfiction or something. 

"i don't think i remember much after that? i do remember that it felt... wow, um, it felt really great." matt bit his bottom lip, blushing like an idiot and wishing that he could just vaporize into thin air.

"wow," edd mused somewhat wistfully. "what else?" matt stared at his half empty lunch tray. 

"uh, the next morning, i was completely disoriented. hangovers suck, by the way. i kept throwing up and tom did not help. he kept teasing me about how it was sorta, um, hard to walk." a stupid smile split edd's face, and he began to munch on one of his stolen carrots. 

"he was rough?" matt coughed loudly, smoothing his shirt as if that would make him less flustered. 

"okay, no more questions. you're being too much," matt said, trying to get his face to return to its normal color. edd whined, poking matt's cheek with a nubby carrot. matt shoved him away, laughing a little. 

"i hate you." edd raked his bangs away from his eyes again, sticking out his tongue. 

"you love me." matt sighed, faking despair. 

"unfortunately, i do." edd gasped, as if something had suddenly dawned on him. he grabbed matt's sandwich from his lunch tray and started eating it. 

"i bet that you guys are super kinky." matt snatched his sandwich back from his friend. 

"drop the subject, edd." edd snickered, wiggling his fingers at him. 

"i bet you screamed really loud."

"edd," matt warned, becoming increasingly embarrassed. 

"i bet the lube you used was scented, oh my god--" edd was dying of laughter, matt smacking his arm with the back of his hand. 

"i'm gonna kill you!! shut up!" matt said, attempting to disguise the fact that all of this was probably true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel like my recent shit has been subpar ??? i'll try to make some,,,, better shit
> 
> in hs,, edd was prolly a huge dork and liked talking about sex too much
> 
> smh what is my mind


	23. cupcakes

tom could hear the banging in the kitchen all the way from his bedroom. his door was shut, and he could still hear it. it was practically impossible for him to concentrate on playing his bass, messing up the tune he had been previously able to ace. 

in a huff, tom got up from the side of his bed, setting susan on the floor gingerly. he shuffled over to the kitchen, his socks rubbing against the carpet. 

"how am i supposed to focus with you making--" tom stopped at the kitchen doorway, staring at the mess of what looked to be flour and sugar. matt was in the midst of it all, also covered in flour and sugar. 

"um, hey!" matt said, nervously running a powder-covered hand through his already-powder-covered hair. tom carefully entered the kitchen, looking at the disaster. 

"what did i say about cooking?" tom mumbled, dragging his finger in a wet stain on the counter. 

"i know what you said about cooking, but you didn't say anything about baking," matt replied, sticking out his tongue and putting his hands on his hips defiantly. "i want actually make something for once."

"you're definitely making a mess, if that counts," tom added unnecessarily, walking over and kissing matt's cheek, figuring that there was probably powder on his face now. "what are you trying to do?"

"cupcakes," matt said, looking proud of himself. "they're already in the oven and they're not on fire or anything, so i think i did pretty good." tom chuckled, brushing some flour off of matt's shirt. matt smiled in turn, resting his head on tom's shoulder and closing his eyes for a second. 

"i should probably clean up," he admitted. "but i don't feel like it. i wanna nap." tom gazed at the disaster around him with amusement. matt sighed a little, appearing slightly sleepy when he pulled away. 

"i'll clean up for you, if you want. you can take a nap or something for a while," tom offered, though he wasn't sure why he was suggesting such a thing. matt beamed, and then tom realized that seeing matt's smile was probably the reason why he suggested it. 

"that'd be so nice of you, babe. you're such a sweetheart. take the cupcakes out when the timer goes off, okay? there's some frosting in the pantry if you wanna put that on the cupcakes after they cool." tom nodded, and matt smiled again, patting tom on the chest a couple times before leaving the kitchen. 

tom glanced at the timer next to the stove. there was only ten minutes left on the clock, so tom busied himself with sweeping up all the stray flour and wiping down the counters. matt sure knew how to make a mess, if anything. tom could hear matt's steady breathing from the living room as the timer gave a shrill beep. tom scrambled to turn it off, and when he did, he peeked out of the kitchen to make sure matt was still sleeping, which he was. 

the cupcakes actually smelled good when tom took them out of the oven. they weren't burnt, and they didn't look like they could kill, so tom was pretty impressed. maybe matt could make food after all. 

tom stared at the cupcakes, already becoming impatient with how long they were taking to cool off. he wanted to eat one now, even without frosting. 

he wandered into the living room in an attempt to not be tempted by the cupcakes. matt was there, sleeping soundly on the couch. he had changed out his floury clothes and into a tshirt and some short pajama shorts. tom walked around to the front of the couch, and then climbed onto it, snuggling behind matt. 

matt opened one eye and made a soft noise, smiling a little. 

"hey," he murmured, turning around to face tom, their noses almost touching. "you smell like cleaning supplies." tom laughed quietly, draping his arm over matt. 

"you smell like cupcakes," tom teased back, nuzzling his nose against matt's. matt snuggled into him, humming with content. they were so close that tom could feel matt's heartbeat beating against his chest. 

"did you take the cupcakes out?"

"yeah, i did. they're naked without frosting though," tom replied. he felt matt smile against his shoulder, and matt peeked up at him, his brown eyes twinkling. 

"i bought blue and purple frosting," he informed. "thought you would like that." tom smiled back at the ginger, kissing the top of his head quickly. 

"i do like that. i like that a lot."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> new headcanon: matt can bake, but everything else he tries to make goes up in flames. literally.


	24. flower shop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> flower shop au in which matt falls so very hard in love with a stranger at first sight
> 
> requested by pulushie ((or,,, anstcookie,, i guess lol--)) 
> 
> :')

it was a chilly november afternoon, but edd had insisted that he and matt take a stroll downtown. it was pushing almost 35 degrees, so edd told matt to put on some warm clothing in that motherly way of his. matt grumbled in response. he was perfectly fine with staying inside, watching netflix with a hot cup of coffee in hand, but no. they were going to take a walk. in the middle of winter. 

"it'll be good to get outside!" edd declared, practically dragging matt out the front door and onto the lightly snowed-on porch. "you spend too much time up in your room."

"okay, mom," matt muttered under his breath as he readjusted his bright purple scarf. edd bumped shoulders with him playfully. 

"i heard that, dork. it's only a couple of blocks, calm down. it's not going to kill you to walk from the flower shop and back." matt bumped edd's shoulder back, nearly sending the brown haired male off the sidewalk. edd laughed, regaining his balance. 

"wait," matt said when they stopped at a crosswalk. "the flower shop?" edd nodded, pushing matt in front of him as they crossed the street. 

"yes, the flower shop. believe it or not, i actually don't like our house looking like a garbage dump. i think some flower arrangements here and there would look nice, in addition to some cleaning." edd shot a pointed glance at matt at the last phrase. matt raised his hands in that woah-back-off way people on sitcoms always did. 

"i clean up after myself--" matt started before edd interrupted him. 

"no, you do not! you eat cookies all over the house, and the crumbs are always there after you leave the room. it's borderline disgusting. i'd prefer to not have to sit on your leftover cookie crumbs when i want to watch tv." matt rolled his eyes, a ghost of a smile tugging at his lips. 

"okay, okay. but i'm not the only one who makes messes." this half-conversation, half-argument continued all the way to the cashier counter inside the flower shop. the man standing at said counter had to loudly clear his throat to get them to stop talking. edd looked like someone snapped him from a dream, a sheepish expression creeping into his features. 

"sorry," he said to the startlingly attractive man at the counter. "i'm just having an important discussion with my friend here." the man nodded, a smile flicking onto his face. 

"i'm sure," he replied, his voice also startlingly attractive. matt felt his whole face flush as he examined the male in front of him, the conversation between edd and the man fading into the background. everything about this guy was, well, rather perfect. he found himself staring, gaping more like, at the man's spiked up brown hair that flawlessly complimented his light skin and his slightly muscular build. his eyes, oh god, were deep, bottomless pools of nothing that matt could gaze into for hours and his lips looked so soft and--

"matt," edd said, yanking him out of his daze. edd made a questioning look. "i'm going to go in the back with tom to see the other flowers, okay?" matt nodded, suddenly too lovestricken to speak. edd's eyes widened a little, and matt saw a quick glimpse of edd's scheming face, though it was gone in a flash. 

"actually, you know what? i'm going to stay out here and look at the flowers here. matt, you can go with tom to the back and pick out something you like for the kitchen table." matt jumped a little, stammering out a meager protest, edd gently pushing him towards tom, who was already moving towards a door on the back side of the room. 

"go on," edd urged with a tad too much sweetness. the volume of his voice lowered then, so only matt could hear. "he probably doesn't bite, unless you ask him to." matt's face erupted a shocking shade of red, but he managed to follow tom into the back room without tripping over his own feet. edd was such an ass. 

"so, do you have anything in mind?" tom asked after a brief moment as he led matt around the small, flower-filled room. it took matt a while to realize that tom was talking about the flowers.

"um..." he said, his eyes darting around the room. "n-not really?? i t-think anything will do." tom appeared to consider this, tapping his forefinger against his cheek. butterflies swarmed into matt's stomach. jesus, this man was perfect and he had to have him but it's too soon they literally just met--

"well, do you have a favorite flower then?" tom was looking at him like he truly cared for matt's opinion on this matter, and the butterflies assaulted him further. 

"sunflowers," matt blurted out, aware of how awkward and flustered he looked. "i like sunflowers." tom smiled at the outburst and matt could swear that his heart stopped for a beat. 

"okay," tom said, looking around the room and investigating his options. the way that his brow furrowed when he was thinking was so cute and matt could feel himself falling deeper and harder in love with this stranger, no matter how much he tried to stop it. tom was framed by gorgeous flowers and it was just so beautiful and matt couldn't breathe. 

"what do you think of this one?" tom wondered, turning and presenting a bouquet that contained sunflowers and a bunch of other flowers matt couldn't place. it was probably the most stunning thing he had ever seen, besides tom himself. 

"w-wow, it's... it's perfect," matt murmured as tom handed him the bouquet with a smile. matt's heart was going to give out from beating so fast and hard. he was so in love. this was awful. you should ask for his number, matt's conscience chimed in as they walked out of the back room. matt refused to comply with this, knowing that he wouldn't be able to get out one word before he started stammering and blushing like an idiot. 

tom assumed his position behind the cashier counter, and popped a piece of gum into his mouth after a moment. it looked like it was cinnamon flavored, and matt nearly died, because cinnamon gum was his favorite. 

"you found something you liked?" edd asked, peeking over his own flower arrangement to look at matt's. "it's beautiful, woah. you have good taste." edd effortlessly struck up another conversation with tom, taking matt's flowers from him to pay for them. matt secretly envied edd's charismatic abilities. 

suddenly, edd was handing matt his bouquet back and was tugging him towards the exit. so they were leaving, matt realized. 

"bye, have a nice day," tom called as edd pushed open the door with his side, a cold wind snaking into the flower shop. edd echoed the words with a smile, and dragged matt out onto the sidewalk. the winter air bit at matt's nose and ears, but that did nothing to reduce the blush on his face. damn, he should have asked for a number. 

edd grabbed his arm again and started walking, forcing matt to follow. 

"i'm so gay for him," matt blurted, his breath finally coming easy now that they were a few feet away from the flower shop. edd laughed. 

"i know."

"i think i've fallen in love, edd. my heart is beating so fast." edd rolled his eyes with a smile, stopping at a crosswalk. after he had waited a second, he didn't walk, instead pointing at something tucked inside matt's flowers. 

"what's that?" he asked, and matt looked at what edd was pointing at. matt shrugged in response, taking the something out. matt's heart resumed its frantic hammering when he realized it was a gum wrapper that smelled faintly of cinnamon. 

in a hurry, he thrust his flowers at edd so he could hold them, and unfolded the gum wrapper with both hands.

"oh my god," matt breathed, about to die for the tenth time. "he gave me his number." edd opened his mouth to say something, but matt cut him off by squealing and dancing a little victorious dance. he gave edd a hug, much to edd's surprise, and then continued his freaking out. 

he was probably the happiest he had ever been in his life, and he floated, all the way home.


	25. spring formal

matt plucked another dandelion from the grass, picking off its petals and watching them fall onto the concrete sidewalk. tom sat beside him on the front porch steps of tom's house, playing a short little tune on his bass. the spring sun shone down on them, and a cool breeze whispered through the air.

"so are you going to ask me to the spring formal or not?" matt asked tom, directing his attention to depetaling another yellow weed. tom looked up from his bass briefly, his hands still strumming the strings.

"the spring formal?" tom repeated, as if he hadn't heard correctly. matt nodded, wiping his polleny fingers on his knee.

"yeah. the spring formal." tom focused back on the tune he'd been playing, giving a nonchalant shrug.

"i wasn't going to go," he said simply. matt stared at tom in disbelief.

"what if i wanted to go?" tom stopped playing this time, seeming to consider these words. there was a silence for a small moment, the only sound being the light breeze. tom shrugged again.

"then i'll take you," was all he said, like that settled it. matt pressed his lips together with dissatisfaction as tom resumed playing his fluid string of notes. this wasn't how he'd planned it would go. he'd be hoping that tom would've asked him in the most romantic and cute way possible, but sometimes not everyone gets what they want. if wishes were horses, beggars would surely ride.

\---

the evening of the formal finally arrived. matt had spent about a week attempting to find an appropriate outfit for the event, and his parents weren't particularly thrilled that matt was going with tom. they'd managed to come to terms with matt's sexuality, with no little effort, but neither of them liked discussing anything that had to do with it. matt's mother would clam up when tom was mentioned, and his father still didn't exactly look him straight in the eyes anymore.

nevertheless, matt had found a suit that he'd once gone to a funeral in and, after some dusting off, had deemed it worthy for the occasion. it seemed to fit properly, and it looked nice, so matt settled on wearing it.

matt heard the doorbell ring from his room, and he quickly glanced in the mirror to make sure he looked decent before rushing to the door.

"who's at the door?" his mom called from the dining room as matt fumbled with unlocking the front door.

"it's tom, mom. i'm going to the spring formal tonight." there was no response for almost thirty seconds, and matt rolled his eyes, ready to open the door whether his mom liked it or not.

"just don't stay out too late," she finally replied. matt opened the door, seeing tom on the doorstep.

"i'll be back around eleven or something," matt called over his shoulder, giving tom an apologetic smile through the screen door. matt waited a second or two just in case his mom wanted to say something else. somewhere in his heart, he wished that she would come out of the dining room, hug him, and tell him to have fun and be safe. only if.

matt stepped through the front door, closing it behind him. the warm evening air embraced him.

"hey," tom said, looking him up and down. matt suddenly felt sheepish, shyly tucking a piece of hair behind his ear.

"hi," matt murmured. tom looked incredibly attractive in a suit of his own, a dark blue one that looked brand new, or at least very well taken care of. tom smiled a little, and matt thought that the color of his brackets actually matched the color of his suit. it was adorable.

"you look amazing," tom said, grabbing his hand and lacing their fingers together as he led him to his car, which was parked on the curb in front of the house. matt felt happy butterflies settle into his stomach. he looked at the sidewalk, all flattered and shy for no reason.

"thanks. you do too, as always," he responded, tom opening the passenger door for him. tom laughed, lightly kissing matt on the cheek before retreating to the driver's side of the car. matt's heart fluttered as he got into the car.

"ready to go?" tom asked, starting the car. matt clicked his seatbelt on, moving to grab tom's hand after tom had shifted the car out of park and into drive. tom ended up driving all the way to the school one-handed, his opposite hand occupied with holding matt's own hand.

the drive was brief, filled with small talk and soft humming along to the songs on the radio. tom pulled into a parking spot close to the entrance of the school and turned off the car. the car was quiet for a moment, the faint pulsing of music from the school drifting into the vehicle.

"are you sure you want to do this?" tom finally said, casting matt a look. matt squinted at tom, confused by this statement.

"what do you mean? of course i wanna do this." tom let go of matt's hand, running the same hand that previously was holding matt's through his hair. he looked out the window, like he was carefully picking his words.

"i mean, we're..." matt waited for tom to elaborate, and it took almost a minute for him to actually elaborate.

"this is... a big step for us," tom said, now looking at matt. it took a second for matt to understand what tom meant, to read between the lines. it was quiet for another moment and matt settled on watching groups of sharply dressed students file into the school.

"we don't have to stay here if you don't want to," matt offered. "we can go if you want, we can... hang out at your house instead." tom shook his head, seemingly not pleased with these words.

"no, i... i want to stay. i just don't want to be judged because the person i'm dating is a dorky ginger boy." a grin split matt's face, and he playfully shoved tom's shoulder.

"i want to stay too, but i _want_ people to judge me because the person i'm dating is the cutest guy in the whole school and i'm going to be making out with him all night." tom laughed at this, and matt saw his cheeks tint a light pink in the dim light. tom opened the car door, letting one foot dangle out.

"dancing first, kissing later," tom said with that adorably crooked smile of his. matt's heart felt like it skipped a beat. he took off his seatbelt then, and leaned over, grabbing the front of tom's suit and pulling him close, kissing him hard on the mouth. tom didn't even appear to think first, just kissing matt back as if it were second nature, as if he'd never said 'dancing first, kissing later'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was actually goin to be a,, prom thing ?? but then i realized that i think of tom & matt as freshman at this point lol
> 
> but hey everyone !! sorry for not posting as often as i used to, ahaha. ive had a little bit of writers block and a lot of stuff has been happening but hey! ive posted smth at least lol
> 
> also,, tysm for 1000+ hits ???? that's inSANE. i'm so happy that ppl like my gay shit and i'm just,,, ;;;;;w;;;;; t hank you


	26. someday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm very sorry for this in advance
> 
> loosely based of an imagine your otp post that i don't have the link to oops

"i'm gonna marry you someday."

that sentence was something tom said often, often enough that matt would get antsy about when that day would actually come.

matt remembered the first time when tom said that, when they were back in high school and still new to the whole relationship thing. they were at tom's house, cuddled up on his bed with the lights turned off. they'd just been laying there, their limbs all tangled together, nearly dozing off.

"i'm gonna marry you someday," tom had murmured then, running his fingers through matt's hair. matt had woken right up, blood rushing to his face.

"m-marry me??" matt had stammered, tom nodding in response. tom had kissed matt softly then, and matt hadn't known that it was possible to love someone more than anything in the world.

tom had said it again when matt was going off to college. tom had been standing with matt's parents at matt's house, matt about to drive away and not come back for the next four years. they'd kissed, long and a little tearful. tom made him not say goodbye, because he was sure that they were going to see each other again.

"i'm gonna marry you someday," tom had told him right before kissing him again. "don't forget about me, prince. i love you." tom had wiped matt's tears with a small smile.

"i love you too," matt replied, forcing himself to pull away from tom's embrace. "i'm going to call you every night." they'd exchanged a couple more words, and matt had hugged his parents goodbye. he and tom had shared a long look before matt had gotten into the car and driven 300 miles away.

tom had started to say those five words a lot more when matt dropped out of college after his second year, and they'd moved in with edd. they were together much more than they had been before, which gave tom the opportunity to whisper sweet things in matt's ear when he was brushing his teeth or when he was microwaving leftovers in the kitchen.

in fact, tom had told him that he was going to marry him just earlier this week, on monday. he'd told him just before a specific norwegian had arrived and disrupted the harmony of the whole house.

"i'm gonna marry you someday," tom had said to matt while matt was flushing his newly dead fish down the toilet. matt had rolled his eyes with a smile, handing tom the now empty fish bowl, which tom shifted around on his stack of harpoons.

"tell me that when you're actually going to propose, baby," matt had responded, going up on his tiptoes and kissing tom on the forehead before leaving the bathroom.

and now, here they were, surrounded by smoldering remains. matt's vision was blurred by a river of tears. his makeup was definitely ruined, his new black eye throbbing and swollen. tom was heavy in matt's arms, blood bubbling up everywhere.

"hey, matt," tom gasped out, his hand gripping the harpoon stabbed through him. matt shushed him, vigorously wiping at his tears.

"no, no," matt sobbed. "don't talk, save your energy... please." matt watched tom shakily reach into the front pocket of his bloodied jeans and pull out a small gold band.

"will you..." matt started to cry harder. this could not be happening. "will you m...marry me?" matt frantically tried to clot the bleeding, but he couldn't tell where the blood was coming from. there was so much. tom's breath was getting more labored by the second.

"babe... tom, i--" matt could hear edd shouting something in the distance, but he couldn't tell what it was. matt's shoulders shook with sobs.

"y...yes. i'll marry you. of course i'll marry you." through all the pain on tom's face, a weak smile burst through. somewhere in him, he found the strength to slide the ring onto matt's left ring finger. matt couldn't breathe.

"i... i told you i would... i would marry you some... someday," tom said, his eyes lidded. matt could see that tom's life was slipping away, just like sand through his fingers. matt's heart slammed against his ribcage. there was nothing he could do.

_there was nothing he could do._

matt barely caught the whisper of "i love you" from tom, and then he was gone. just like that. it took matt a second to realize that this was actually happening.

"tom," matt said, clinging on to fading hopes. "n-no, no, no, no, no-- tom please don't leave me tom no i can't live without--" a new flood of tears came, and matt was sobbing and he wasn't stopping. this was his worst nightmare, and it just came true.

matt almost didn't register edd sitting down beside him on the scorched grass. without saying anything, edd took matt into his arms, holding his shaking body close as he broke down into tiny pieces.

he was engaged to a dead man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this actually wasn't supposed to happen but then it happened and it's currently happening
> 
> i'm sorry lol,,,, it's as painful for me as it is for you :')


	27. insane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so so so sorry for this fnanfbanndban
> 
> feel free to skip over this angsty chapter ;;u;;
> 
> this is highkey inspired by auroratheharpist9's comment on chapter 26,,,, so this is technically a continuation of someday
> 
> :""")

matt found himself fingering the gold band around his ring finger a lot. too much. he'd twist it around and around and around until the base of his finger turned red and stung a little. he never took the ring off though. he'd wear it in the shower and to sleep, refusing remove it. he felt like he would lose a piece of him if he did. he had already lost half of him, and he really couldn't afford to lose anymore of himself.

it had been over a month since tom's funeral, but the pain was still there. it was always there. matt couldn't look at anything without being reminded of what had been, even his own reflection. he found it hard to meet his own eyes in the mirror, once almost shattering the bathroom mirror with the bottle of hand soap as he broke down and cried.

edd was also always there, just like the pain. edd would tell him to eat his food, to stop skipping meals, to please just have a couple bites so he wouldn't go to sleep hungry. edd would ask how he was doing frequently, nearly once a day, gazing upon him with such pity and sympathy that made matt hate himself, deep down on the inside. edd was different after tom had... passed, but he had sucked it up and faced his issues after the first week or so. edd was the strong one, though he didn't look it. he kept matt from going insane.

perhaps matt was already insane, though. the most minor things made him upset. he swore a bunch more than he used to, 'fuck' making an appearance in almost every sentence that came out of his mouth. sometimes he would be angry, angry at tom for dying, angry at tord for everything he'd caused, angry at edd for being constantly pitiful, angry at himself for handling this like a pathetic child and not being able to let it go. sometimes, often times, he was sad. nothing was really worth it, was it? he'd stopped caring about the time it took to put on makeup or to coordinate an outfit. sadness would overwhelm every instance of his life, making it impossible to get out of bed on some days. and sometimes, he just didn't care. everything was a piece of shit anyway. work was meh, eating properly was meh, life in general was meh.

edd would confront him about these moods if he was feeling brave. the result was the same every time, like a bad, reoccurring joke.

"you need to take care of yourself, matt," edd would say, giving him the pity look. "you don't eat, you don't sleep, you're just... not yourself." there would always be a long pause, matt never meeting edd's gaze.

"tom wouldn't want this," edd would continue, and matt would suddenly lash out, screaming and yelling.

"don't you fucking _dare_ tell me what tom would want! i can fucking do whatever the fuck i want!" matt would yell in response. he'd scream at edd until his throat was raw, and edd would simply stand there and take it. matt would eventually realize what a dick he was being and then he'd start to sob and say sorry, sorry, sorry, i didn't mean any of that i'm so sorry-- edd would come over and bring him into his arms and hug him and tell him that it'll be okay, you're okay, the cycle repeating over and over.

just like clockwork.

matt knew that edd and tom had been close, very close, but he'd lately had the feeling that edd just didn't get it. it was different for matt. edd had never had tom hold his hand or kiss him breathless or tell him that he loved him to the moon and back. edd had never felt the things matt had felt, or cuddled up close to tom's body on a cold night or honestly experienced a love so intense that it was hard to breathe, to think, to live. it was different. it just was.

someday matt would get over this, get over tom leaving him behind in this bland world. someday matt would wake up and feel free and happy and not want to curl up and never talk to anyone ever again. someday matt would smile a real, genuine smile instead of faking it everyday. someday matt wouldn't stand in front of the knife drawer in the kitchen and let his hands and his thoughts wander to dark places he knew they shouldn't go. someday would come eventually.

but it wasn't here now, that was for sure. he was okay with the pain, he welcomed it. he let the pain embrace him and surround him, and he was okay with that. he was okay with not eating, with not caring about how he looked, with not showing up to work, with being an all-around dick to edd at any given time. he was okay with rubbing his finger raw with that gold band.

maybe the pain was what really kept matt sane, or perhaps made him insane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i swear on my life i'll write a happy chapter in which our two favorite gay ducks are doing what they do best: being gay
> 
> i promise fhwndbs


	28. compliments

tom had noticed that matt really liked to strut his stuff. he definitely did have stuff to strut, in all honesty. he had that fairy-like face and a rather feminine figure, so, yeah, tom could say that matt had the right to show himself off. that right transferred into matt's clothing preference, and tom found that it was very easy to flatter his boyfriend. 

one day, matt was showing his brand-new clothing haul that had just arrived in the mail that afternoon. matt had begun buying clothes online because none of the stores around where they lived carried the type of clothing matt liked to wear. 

"oh, oh!" matt exclaimed, delicately pulling another plastic-encased clothing item from the seemingly bottomless box. tom watched matt carefully pick the tape off the plastic with his perfectly manicured nails from his vantage point on matt's bed. after a couple silent moments of tape picking, matt drew a long sleeved crop top out of the plastic, smiling. 

"it's a crop top!" he declared as if tom didn't know what a crop top was. "and it's dark blue! the color made me think of you right when i saw it, so i just had to buy it." tom made an 'mhm' sound, matt proceeding to shamelessly strip himself of his sweatshirt right in the middle of the room and tug the nearly skin-tight garment over his head. matt tapped his bottom lip in thought, turning to the nearest mirror and examining himself.

"i don't know," he hummed, striking a tiny pose in the mirror. "what do you think, baby?" matt turned around again to face tom, his hands on his hips. tom looked him over once, twice. the crop top was actually cute, and it flaunted matt's stomach and belly button. dark blue looked nice on him. 

"i think it looks good on you," tom finally stated, seeing matt smile at that. there was a short pause in which matt bent down to see what else had come in the mail. 

"but anyway," tom continued. "everything looks good on you." matt pulled out three more plastic bags, gently kicking the box away. there was this shy smile on his face, the kind that lightly tinted his cheeks. 

"aw, babe. you're too sweet," he said, picking at the tape on one of the packages. matt was obviously charmed, and it was adorable. the definite way into the ginger's heart was with healthy doses of compliments. tom shrugged nonchalantly, giving a tiny smile. 

"i'm just telling the truth," he remarked, matt pulling out what seemed to be long, striped thigh highs out of one plastic package. "you could wear a trash bag and make it look good." matt laughed at that, putting on the socks with a final snap of elastic. 

"that's going a little too far," he said through his laughter, making a cute turn as he showed off his new socks. tom's heart melted. his boyfriend was the cutest of them all. he made grabby hands at matt in an attempt to get him closer. 

"come here, i love you," tom mumbled as matt shuffled over in those adorable socks of his. matt settled down in tom's lap, leaning his head on tom's shoulder. it was quiet for a moment, tom wrapping his arms around matt. 

"i can feel your heartbeat on my back," matt whispered, though tom wasn't sure why he was whispering. tom brushed his lips against matt's temple. 

"i love you," tom whispered back, one of his hands idly tracing the hem of matt's new crop top. "you're the most attractive thing i've ever seen." the color that came to matt's face was strong enough that tom could tell that it wasn't just makeup. a small giggle left matt's lips. 

"i love you too. you also happen to be the most handsome thing i've ever seen." tom smiled into matt's bright hair, which smelled nice, somewhere in between strawberries and pine trees. 

tom could honestly stay like this forever, close to his favorite person on earth. everything felt so right and complete when tom was with matt and tom planned to keep it that way for a very long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok this isn't the fluffiest shit ever but
> 
> i have another one pls bear with me :')


	29. muggy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> very very loosely based off of an incorrectsoc tumblr post
> 
> if you know who incorrectsoc is,,,, bless you i want to be your friend bless your mcheckin heart

matt was late for work again, having sleepily hit the snooze button on his alarm clock about five times that morning instead of actually getting up. somewhere along the line, the alarm clock had fallen off matt's nightstand, unplugging from the wall and giving him a solid ten more minutes of dozing off. 

he'd gotten ready in a hurry, literally just throwing on some of tom's clothes that he'd found on the floor of his room. they were comfortable, which was all that mattered at that time. he hadn't bothered to put on makeup, deciding that he could just put some on at stop signs and red lights if he was quick enough. 

matt nearly fell down the stairs as he went to the ground level, greeting edd with a quick hello. 

"hey, matt," edd said, still in his pajamas. "what's the rush?" matt didn't respond, just kept speedwalking down the hallway. all he needed to do was grab some coffee and his keys and he could get to work with probably seconds to spare. 

"morning, prince," tom said, looking a little amused when matt skidded to a halt once inside the kitchen. matt mumbled a 'morning, babe', rummaging in one of the cabinets for his thermos. 

"late again?" tom asked, though matt knew he already knew the answer to that. matt nodded wordlessly, because it was completely obvious that he was late. he found his thermos and sidestepped in front of the coffee machine, starting to pour coffee from the pitcher into the thermos. 

"it rained really hard last night," tom remarked as if matt hadn't noticed. matt was sort of terrified of storms, and there had been thunder and lightning the whole night. he had curled up really tight in his blankets, squeezing his eyes shut, but he hadn't been able to fall asleep at all. the storm was probably why matt had slept in so fatally this morning. 

"yeah, i know," matt murmured, trying to concentrate on not spilling his coffee over the sides of his thermos. 

"it's really muggy outside because of that, so i don't think you'll need to wear long sleeves," tom continued. matt glanced at his hoodie sleeves for a brief moment, then shrugging. 

"i don't have time to change, tom. i really have to go." matt set the pitcher down and put it back in the machine. he screwed the cap back onto his thermos, and turned around, ready to leave.

matt squinted, confused, as he looked at tom for a second. 

"are you drinking coffee out of a bowl?" he asked. the corners of tom's mouth tugged up, and he noisily sipped his coffee from the bowl.

"i did say that it was muggy outside." matt squinted a little more, the gears turning in his head. 

"if all the... mugs are in the yard..." matt started, slowly moving towards the kitchen entryway. "...i'm gonna leave you." tom snorted into his bowl, and matt rushed to the front door, throwing it open.

lo and behold, matt opened the door to see all of the mugs out on the front lawn. he groaned audibly, examining all of their mugs haphazardly strewn on the dewy grass.

"tom, are you kidding me?" matt deadpanned, very over his boyfriend's stupid puns. tom laughed, taking a sip of his coffee out of that cursed bowl.

"well, look at that. it seems like it's muggier than i thought it was." matt took a moment to deeply inhale, pressing his hands together. 

"all these mugs better be inside and clean when i get back," he said, assuming edd's role of 'the mom friend'. tom was cracking up, and matt just rolled his eyes. 

"i'm leaving, bye," he stated, tom leaning over quickly and pecking him on the cheek. 

"bye," tom replied, still laughing to himself. matt promptly left the house, closing the door behind him and traversed down the concrete walkway. he gazed at all of the mugs on the lawn. they owned a lot of mugs. 

matt found himself smiling a little. maybe it was funny.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahaha i'm funny aren't i
> 
> //crickets


	30. checkout line

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sort of an au?? one in which matt n edd live in an apartment together somewhere ((probably during college??)) and tom just,, doesn't necessarily know them bc he's a lazy ass and doesn't want to go to college
> 
> if that makes sense

it seemed that matt had fallen in love with the man at the grocery store. he wasn't just any man, though. he was probably the most interesting and attractive man matt had ever met in his life. they actually... hadn't met formally, but whenever matt went to the grocery store to buy milk or ramen noodles, he always went to tom's (that was the man's name, matt assumed. that's what read on his name tag at least) checkout lane. matt probably seemed like a creep when he did that, but matt didn't really care. 

matt found himself taking a little more time to do his makeup before he went to the store. if he was going to seem like a creep, the least he could do was to be a good looking one. he was about to go pick up some cola for edd and some new lipstick for him, since edd was still sound asleep in his bedroom and was rendered unable to go and do it himself. anyway, matt felt like brightening his day with a little glimpse of tom. 

matt exited the apartment quietly, as if the walls were paper thin and as if edd would be able to hear him leaving from across the flat. he used the stairs instead of the elevator on a whim, immediately regretting it after he'd speedwalked down four flights of steps. he was much too inactive to be physically exerting himself like this. 

the drive to the grocery store was brief, and it only took matt a couple minutes to grab the things he needed to buy. he piled the cola and the makeup into his arms, deciding to get some bacon while he was at it. he wandered over to the checkout lines, discovering that the line of people at tom's register was a tad longer than all the others. matt mentally battled himself for a second, but ended up planting himself at the end of the line anyway. the woman in front of him had a cart piled with things, and matt was very tempted to go to the self checkout. 

almost five minutes of waiting passed, but matt endured regardless. when the woman and her bajillion items finally left the line, matt placed his few things on the conveyor belt and flashed his sweetest smile at tom. tom smiled back, making matt's heart swell. 

"did you find everything alright?" tom asked, as he always did. matt nodded, tucking a piece of hair behind his ear. tom scanned the package of bacon. 

"you come around here often, don't you," he said, matt straightening at the words. tom never engaged in conversation, just scanned the items methodically and handed matt his receipt. this was entirely new, and matt wasn't prepared for this in the slightest. his palms got a little clammy. 

"y-yeah. i guess i do," matt managed, thoroughly liking the sound of tom's voice. tom had already finished scanning everything and was typing something into his cashier keyboard. 

"your total is $10.29," he stated with a small smirk, watching matt dig in his back pocket for cash. "do you want me to ask you out or something?" matt froze, his heart skipping at least seven beats. 

"i'm... i'm sorry?" tom grinned, his teeth beautifully straight and perfect.

"i'll take you out to dinner if that tickles your fancy," he elaborated, enunciating his words in this slow, teasing way. matt quickly pulled a bill out of his pocket, ignoring the fact that it was a fifty and just sliding it across the counter. he couldn't breathe. was he dreaming?

"th... that definitely tickles my... my fancy," matt replied carefully, not sure this was actually happening. his face was probably red by now. tom smiled again, putting matt's groceries in a plastic bag and handing it to him. he tore the receipt out of the printer, pulling a pen out of his pocket. matt watched tom scribble down his number on the thin paper and hand that to him also. when tom moved to give matt his change, matt stopped him. 

"no, keep it," he said, ready to faint. he needed to get home and drink a big cup of coffee. they gazed at each other for a moment. 

"text me," tom finally said, signifying the end of this particular conversation. matt nodded a little, adjusting his grip on the plastic bag. 

"of course." matt swore that he saw tom wink as he left the checkout aisle, and he nearly melted right there, like an ice cream cone on a very hot day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow,, chapter 30 !! it's remarkable that you guys are still here dnakdsnskka
> 
> im so appreciative you have no idea,,, the fact that my email blows up with notifs about kudos makes me so happy wtf ??? tysm i don't deserve this


	31. parts

"mornin'," tom's boyfriend mumbled as he sleepily walked into the kitchen.

"morning, babe," tom replied, already sitting down at the table with a cup of whiskey-spiked coffee. matt gave a yawn and a stretch, his oversized, pastel blue t-shirt lifting up a little. matt then shuffled to the freezer, pulling out a box of hot pockets and going to the microwave. 

tom watched the ginger tiredly put the food in the microwave and start it. he examined matt's body while matt waited for his food to finish. tom took a sip of his coffee, enjoying the view of matt's backside. 

a moment passed, and tom got up from the table and approached matt, who was still waiting for his hot pocket to finish. tom set his coffee on the counter and matt gave him a side look when tom sidled up to him.

"you look really gorgeous," tom murmured, slipping his arm around matt's waist. matt smiled a little, brushing a stray orange hair out of his face.

"i just woke up, but thanks." tom's hand dipped down, now resting on matt's hipbone and tom felt matt stiffen just a little. tom dared to sweep his hand around and pop a squeeze on matt's butt. matt let out a breathy 'oh!', his hands gripping the counter. he allowed tom's hand to rest on his butt, the microwave making a shrill beep. matt gingerly removed the steaming hot pocket from the microwave, promptly blowing on it quickly, then taking a bite. goddamn, he was even cute when he ate.

"do you know that i love you, prince?" tom said, matt giving him a bemused look while he chewed. 

"i know you love my ass," matt responded through his food before swallowing. "don't think i don't notice where your eyes go when i walk into a room." he took another bite of his hot pocket, still looking at tom. tom laughed, nuzzling the side of matt's face. 

"okay... your ass is great, i love the other parts of you too."

"yeah? and what parts?" tom's hand went up and brushed a crumb off the corner of matt's mouth.

"well, i love your eyes because they're big and brown and beautiful, and i love your smile because it's the most gorgeous thing i've ever seen, and it makes me happy every time i see it. i love your lips because they're cute and soft and, jesus, i could kiss them all day if you'd let me. i love your hair because it's so crazy and so orange and it's so you." matt gave a crooked grin, finishing his hot pocket and turning to face tom. 

"mhm. anything else?" tom sighed dramatically, squeezing matt's sides gently.

"are you kidding? i'm just getting started." matt moved closer to him, wrapping his arms around tom in a warm embrace, and tom's hands settled back on matt's hipbone.

"i love your laugh because it's adorable and real, and sometimes you laugh so hard, you snort. that's singlehandedly my favorite thing on earth. i love your fingers and your hands because they're so versatile and they fit perfectly in my hands, like they're meant for each other." tom paused, trying to think of more things without it getting... dirty, but he couldn't. matt giggled, seemingly knowing what tom was thinking.

"oh, sheriff," matt started, smiling. "just give me a kiss."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woah uh,,,, sorry about not updating ???? writers block is a shint,,, ive been sorta running out of ideas for this
> 
> however !! ive been kinda workin on another,,,, tomatt work ?? in which matt is a vampire,,,,, idk it's p rough rn but i was thinking about posting a pilot/excerpt here and seein what u guys think,, idk,,,


	32. monster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> requested by my all-time-favorite requester ((i don't think that's a word oops)) auroratheharpist9,,,

tom had been in the bathroom for almost an hour, and it was starting to get weird. matt had come home from work at the department store to edd saying that tom had been in the bathroom for the past ten minutes. edd had also mentioned that it didn't seem like tom wanted to come out of the bathroom anytime soon.

"i told him to come out of the bathroom so we could watch a movie, but he didn't say anything," edd had added. "i think i heard some loud noises coming from the bathroom though, like he was smashing glass or something."

now, here matt was, standing at the bathroom door because edd had sent him there, saying that tom will probably let him in because of their relationship status. matt had rolled his eyes at that, but had gone to the bathroom door nonetheless.

"tom?" matt said, lightly tapping his knuckles on the door. "are you okay? edd says you've been in the bathroom since before i got home." there was no response, just what matt thought was the sound of the tap running. matt pressed his lips together.

"tom, open the door, won't you? we can talk about whatever's bothering you." the sound of running water greeted him again, and matt jiggled the locked doorknob. he blinked at said doorknob, slipping a hand into his back pocket of his jeans.

his fingers came in contact with a cold metal, and it occurred to him that laurel had given him some bobby pins to hold onto earlier that day. with a twinge of guilt, matt noted that he should have given them back to her as he fished one out of his pocket and slid it into the small hole in the doorknob. biting his lip, he wiggled the bobby pin around for a second before hearing a click. the universe was smiling down at him.

matt opened the bathroom door hesitantly, not sure what he would find.

"babe, you good--" with the door halfway open, matt caught a glimpse of something that _was not_ his boyfriend amidst the mess of products and toothbrushes all over the floor. it had horns, and pointy ears, and a long purple, scaly tail. its hands were more like claws, sharp, purple claws. it looked like tom too, but it wasn't tom. it definitely wasn't tom.

matt found himself gaping at whatever this was seemingly passed out on the floor as he carefully, cautiously advanced into the bathroom. the only noise was the sink water running, and matt turned it off.

"tom..?" he whispered, his heart tripling its rate when he dared to poke the prone figure with the tip of his foot. the thing stirred, then shot up to its feet, swiping at matt's face and making matt cry out and fall on his ass in a half-startled, half-completely-terrified moment. it happened so fast, the creature was up in his face, growling with its teeth bared.

matt's cheek stung, and he realized he was probably bleeding. he had scrambled up against the wall in a futile attempt to escape this... monster, but it was useless. he could feel the thing's hot breath on his face, and he was almost confident that his heart was going to give out from beating so fast.

when tears started to roll down matt's cheeks, the monster's features instantly softened, looking much more human. it moved back, appearing a little shaken.

"matt, i'm..." it said, and matt almost began to sob. it was tom's voice, just more gravelly than normal. "i hurt you, i'm so sorry..." matt quickly wiped at his tears, accidentally wiping mascara and blood along with them.

"what are you?" matt murmured, beckoning tom to come closer. "are you okay?" tom didn't come any closer, just moved back even more.

"i.. i don't know what i am. this keeps happening. i don't know how to stop it." matt scooted near to tom since tom didn't want to come to him, and tom practically growled at him before looking very sorry for growling at him.

"don't come near me," tom said softly. "i don't want to hurt you again." matt stared at tom for a moment, taking in this new form of his.

"no, it's okay," he resolved. "you're okay, come over to me." tom hesitated for a solid minute until he decided that he wanted to move closer to matt. he stopped at least a foot away, and matt smiled faintly.

"c'mere, tom. i don't bite." matt scooted halfway, and tom slowly scooted the other half. their knees touched, and matt searched tom's face for a quiet moment.

"does this happen a lot?" he whispered, reaching up and rubbing tom's cheek with his thumb. tom nodded, looking down at the tile floor.

"usually when i'm alone," he replied. "but it's started to happen whenever i get overly emotional. the shift into this form is sort of painful." matt made a sympathetic noise, wrapping his arms around tom.

"what were you feeling when you shifted this time?" there was a long pause.

"insecure... like i wasn't good enough. for you, mostly. i'm literally a mess, i get drunk all the time, i start fights with everyone... and you're just... the most perfect, most gorgeous person i've ever met and i don't know what the fuck i ever did to deserve you and your love." matt's heart did a flip, and he craned up to press a kiss on tom's temple.

"oh, baby," he mumbled. "you're amazing. don't you forget it, okay? i love you so much, so much it hurts, and you're incredibly wonderful." matt offered a soft smile to tom, and his heart did another flip when tom gave one back. tom kissed right above matt's eyebrow, and matt felt tom... shrinking? it was a rather peculiar feeling.

next thing he knew, tom was tom again. no scaly tail or pointy horns or anything. just tom, his utmost favorite person ever.

"sorry, i should have waited," tom said, tracing the cut on matt's cheek. "i finally felt stable enough to shift back." matt smiled, close enough to smell the faint scent of tom's shirt: lavender and booze.

"no, it's fine," matt responded. "i'm just happy that you're you again."

"this is gonna leave a mark," tom informed apologetically, talking about the cut on matt's face. matt's eyes widened. a scar _on his face_. the thought of it made him feel dizzy.

"it'll be... it'll be fine," matt said, hoping that he believed it. "it's fine. i'll live."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shitty ending but hey,,, at least they kissed once or twice
> 
> i didn't proofread this either hhhhh,,, so if there are typos n heck i'm sorry lol


	33. coffee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHAHAHAHA this was thrown together v quickly but it's still p okay fnksnd
> 
> it's short o ops

matt had insisted on stopping at starbucks to get coffee on their way back home from the supermarket. there was some sort of new coffee flavor or something, so matt was practically dying to go. tom had just sighed and given in, even though he didn't particularly like starbucks and the whole atmosphere that came with it.

"thank you, thank you, thank you!" matt exclaimed when they pulled into the parking lot. he quickly grabbed tom's face and planted a loud kiss on his cheek before basically leaping out of the car. tom laughed to himself, getting out of the car with a bit more class and following matt inside the starbucks.

"do you want me to order you anything?" matt asked, tom sitting down at one of the tables. tom shrugged, not really knowing what the hell you order at starbucks or how the hell you order it.

"you know what kind of coffee i drink," was what tom resorted to say. "just order me... normal coffee." matt looked amused, but simply turned on his heel after a second and moved to the line.

tom took the time to admire matt and all of his wonderful qualities from the safety of at least ten feet. jeez, his boyfriend was cute. today matt was pulling the hipster look, with thick-rimmed glasses and everything, and he looked so good that tom could just die. tom was melting under the light of matt's beauty and perfection. he honestly wanted to kiss matt all over.

after several more moments of admiration, matt came back with two coffees, one piled with whipped cream and chocolate drizzle and the other just... plain coffee. matt set them both on the table and sat down.

"i didn't know how much cream and sugar you put in your coffee so i ordered black," matt stated, noisily sipping whatever he was drinking through a straw. "if you want, i can go put some in for you."

"that'd be nice." matt got up again, taking tom's coffee to a nearby side table with all the things people add to their coffee.

"i usually put seven sugars," tom said, earning a shocked look from matt.

"my god, you're going to get sick from eating all that sugar," matt claimed, tearing open seven sugars simultaneously and pouring them all in the coffee nonetheless. this was actually the perfect time for a cheesy pickup line, but tom decided to hold out on that one for another time.

"do you want cream?" tom smirked, seeing the opportunity for a different type of pickup line that he wasn't going to pass up.

"no, but i know what else i want to put cream in right now." matt instantly flushed, his eyes widening behind his glasses.

"jesus christ!" matt hissed, sitting back down and sliding tom's coffee over to him. "that was uncalled for." it was now tom's turn to be amused, taking a sip of his coffee.

"you walked right into that one," he teased, sticking out his tongue. matt returned the gesture, playfully shoving tom's shoulder from across the table.

"you suck."

"no, actually, you do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i nEED to draw matt pulling the hipster look i love drawing matt ugh i just,,,, love matt,,, so much,,,,,,
> 
> and i love gay puns yw,,,
> 
> uhhhh im thinking about ending this work?? idk. just a possibility.


	34. thunderstorm

thunder rumbled overhead, snapping matt awake. he sat up in bed quickly, so fast that he got a little lightheaded. thunder rolled again, louder this time, and matt felt himself get really panicked. he hated being a light sleeper, he hated being paranoid, and he really, really hated thunderstorms. if it started to lightning, he was gonna--

lightning flashed outside his window, the high-volume electrical snap illuminating his entire bedroom for a split second. it started to rain, hard, pelting rain pounding into the roof. jesus, this was terrifying. matt was frozen in bed, wishing he could just fall back asleep, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to for a long while. 

more lightning and thunder followed, the intense flashes and booms accompanying the equally aggressive rain. matt drew the covers up to his nose, frightened out of his mind. he could go and turn on the light, but he didn't want to get up. the light switch was much too far away. 

the pouring rain slammed into matt's window, lightning cracking and lighting up his room again. the glass eyes on all his stuffed animals on the shelves glinted and stared back at him, making matt even more uncomfortable. why did he like stuffed animals so much? this was a definite turn off. 

a particularly deafening growl of thunder made matt make up his mind. he was leaving his room. he couldn't stay here. thunderstorms were always louder and more scary from the second floor for some reason. matt jumped out of bed, scurrying to his bedroom door and throwing it open, his heart beating hard in his chest. he managed to navigate the steep stairway in the dark without falling.

the first door that matt saw was like instant relief, and he didn't much care whose room it was. whether it be tom or edd's room, either of them would provide comfort to him. matt tried to be very quiet when he went to open the door, and he slipped inside the dark room, carefully closing the door behind him. 

the room smelled faintly like alcohol and cologne, and matt knew he was in tom's room. he tiptoed to the bed on the side of the room, almost tripping over something on the floor. as quiet as he could possibly be, he crawled into the empty side of tom's bed, drawing the covers up to his chin. 

tom didn't stir at all, practically passed out next to him. matt curled up under tom's outstretched arm when the next rumble of thunder sounded overhead. the rain was less intense down on the ground floor, but the lightning and thunder was basically the same, scaring matt out of his wits.

"matt?" tom mumbled sleepily, his nose nuzzled into matt's hair. matt made a quiet noise, pressing himself into tom's side. 

"sorry i woke you," he whispered, actually not very sorry. "i was trying to be quiet." tom turned to face him, rubbing his eyes to wake himself up a little. 

"nah, you're good," tom whispered back, running his fingers through matt's hair. matt could feel his heart rate slow down a little. he felt safe.

just then, a very big crackle of lightning lit up the entire room for a fraction of a moment, the noise nearly shaking the house. matt involuntarily snuggled up as close as he could to tom's body.

"scared?" tom asked softly, rubbing matt's back. matt just nodded, hating how afraid he was. tom planted a gentle kiss on matt's forehead, then one on the tip of his nose.

"i'm right here, okay? i'm here." the room was quiet, the rain softening and coming lighter. matt felt himself nod off in tom's arms, and he fell asleep, the rain pitter-pattering on the window like the beat of his heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow this is practically 90% description of the storm lmao
> 
> ive wanted to write a thunderstorm chapter for the longest time bc it keeps storming where i live,,, im sick of it
> 
> anyway,,,, nyall should hmu on insta ((doodle.mp4)) or paigeeworld ((smolbeandoodle)) bc i love y'all n i want to be friends with all of u


	35. pet names

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUYS I FEEL SO INSPIRED LIKE,,, IT WAS 4 AM AND A BUNCH OF IDEAS JUST SMACKED ME UPSIDE THE HEAD SO,,,,, EXPECT MORE FREQUENT UPDATES ((I'D THINK))
> 
> also this chapter is dedicated to those authors of all those really fuckin fluffy pet name fics ((COUGH7ion5COUGHsnuugelsCOUGHsonicmadgirlCOUGH))

gooey pet names had become a regularity between tom and matt recently. matt had started it, him being the more lovey-dovey of the both of them, calling tom 'jellybean' over the phone once. tom had just laughed, caught completely unaware, and called matt 'lollipop' in response. 

it was strange, this new pet name thing. they never used to do that type of thing before, previous pet names only extending to 'babe' and 'baby', sometimes 'love' from matt. but now the names that they exchanged with each other were so affectionate and cheesy that edd would always roll his eyes and leave the room. they barely ever called each other by their real names, things like 'teddy bear' and 'sunshine' becoming their new first names. 

as time progressed, the names got even worse. tom slipped and addressed matt as 'snuggle bunny' while asking him to get a box of cereal at the grocery store one time. 

"awww," matt cooed in reply, sidling up beside tom and taking his hand. "i'm your snuggle bunny?" tom felt himself blush, noticing his slip-up then. he stared at the tile aisle floor for a second before looking at matt's adoring face.

"yeah," he said, smiling a little. "you're my snuggle bunny." matt dramatically put a hand over his heart, giving tom this oh-my-god-that's-the-cutest-thing-i've-ever-heard expression. 

"oh my goodness. that's the most adorable thing you've ever said to me, pumpkin," matt murmured, squeezing tom's hand. tom squeezed back, leaning down a bit and giving matt an eskimo kiss. the ginger smiled, making a soft, loving noise and kissing tom real quick on the lips. 

"i love you, sugar muffin," matt whispered against tom's lips before kissing him again, longer this time. they were lost in their own world for almost a minute, someone clearing their throat behind them, dragging tom and matt back to reality. 

"ex... excuse me," said a young woman, pointing awkwardly to the cereal that they were standing right in front of. the woman's cheeks were tinted a light pink, probably because she'd witnessed a very gay, very public display of affection. matt blinked at her, and then it seemed to dawn on him that they should move out of her way. 

"sorry," tom apologized, not really caring whether a whole shopping aisle of people had just seen him giving his wonderful snuggle bunny a couple of kisses. tom and matt scooted out of her way, and she nodded gratefully at them, grabbing her box of cereal and mumbling a quiet 'have a nice day' as she went along on her way. 

tom heard matt giggle as soon as the woman left and tom looked over at him with amusement. 

"what?" he asked, grabbing the cereal that he'd originally asked matt to get and tossing it in the shopping cart. matt smiled at him, and they walked along, tom pushing the cart with one hand. 

"it's nothing," matt dismissed, swinging their hands between them. "i just love you a lot." tom stopped walking, his heart melting into a pile of nothing. god, he was so stupid in love with matt, it wasn't even funny.

"i love you a lot too. way more, in fact." matt grinned, grabbing tom's other hand. 

"no, i love you more." tom shook his head, marginally aware that they were standing in the middle of the aisle.

"impossible. i love you way, way more."

"i love you way, way, way more than you ever could."

"dammit, prince. just let me kiss you." matt giggled again, leaning in and letting tom kiss him like they didn't have any time left in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok but rt,, i was writing this at 4 am and i was a mess bc im 75% sure that this the fluffiest shit ive ever written
> 
> and alSOOOOOO,,, if you ever have a req,, don't hesitate to tell me !! i'm always, always, alWAYS taking reqs so ;))


	36. clothes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pls take this chapter that is 85% matt being good to himself and just loving on himself in general

everyone in the house had become aware that matt's favorite thing definitely was not clothes. if anything, clothes as a collective item were ranked at least 74th on his favorite things list. the act of actually wearing said clothes was even lower on that list. matt would walk around in his underwear if edd didn't care so much, but he cared a lot. edd was adamant that everyone wear some form of pants and shirt at all given moments of any day, so walking around almost naked really wasn't an option.

however, on this particular morning, matt didn't really care whether edd wanted him to be clothed or not. he looked really good in his underwear, as his mirror had confirmed and currently was confirming. matt struck a pose in the mirror, satisfied with what he saw. 

"lookin' like a snack," he purred to himself, turning away from his mirror and preparing to go downstairs and show everyone, specifically a certain void-eyed man, how fabulous he felt on this fine morning. as he went to leave, he had a thought. he should at least put on a shirt so edd wouldn't get terribly upset. he wasn't going to put on pants though. pants were much too overrated. 

a few moments later, matt was downstairs, donning a comfy purple shirt whose hem barely grazed the small of his back. he walked into the kitchen, where everyone happened to be, and chirped a cheerful 'good morning'. he went over to the fridge, noticing edd look up from his plate of bacon. 

"mor--" edd started, and matt could just feel edd staring disapprovingly at him. "matt, for christ's sake, put on some pants."

"please don't," matt heard tom interject. matt cast a wide smile to the both of them over his shoulder, pulling the tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream out of the freezer. he felt great, and he was going to eat ice cream for breakfast because he felt great. 

"matt, no," edd said, matt not sure whether he was saying no to the ice cream or to his lack of proper pants. 

"tom doesn't mind," matt protested, going to get a spoon from a nearby drawer. "do you, tom?"

"nope," tom replied. "i do not mind." edd let out a frustrated huff, angrily chewing on a piece of bacon. matt settled down in the chair across from tom, opening the tub of ice cream and spooning a generous amount into his mouth. he felt tom kick him under the table, and matt kicked him back. they shared a look, a look that edd probably interpreted as puppy dog eyes because he inhaled sharply and shoved another piece of bacon into his mouth. 

"seriously though," edd mumbled. "i could practically see your junk and that's not really something i want to see." matt snorted, engaged in an elaborate game of footsie with tom. 

"i'm sorry, but i'm not putting on pants. i feel like royalty right now and pants will totally ruin my vibe." tom looked up from his phone for the first time since matt entered the room. 

"you always look like royalty, babe," he said, even daring to smirk and wink at the end of his sentence. ice cream almost came out of matt's nose when he laughed. 

"thank you, love. but you're the true royalty here," matt informed, gently kicking tom under the table.

"yeah? how so?" matt pretended to think. 

"for one, you're the king of my heart." tom's eyebrows raised as his smirk intensified. 

"and your ass," he added, making edd choke on his bacon. edd pinched the bridge of his nose after he got done coughing up a lung.

"fucking hell, you two! it's only nine am!" edd narrowed his eyes, pointing at both tom and matt in turn. "i am way too fucking straight for this. go be gay in another room so i can eat breakfast in peace."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love making edd super salty,,, it's like,,, really fun lmao. ppl are like "wow edd is so pure i love him he's so soft" and im like 
> 
> lol ok


	37. the morning after

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahahAHAHAH TY AURORA
> 
> oh shoot i almost forgot to say that this is a continuation of oh no
> 
> oh no is chapter twenty by the way

after their initial confusion and disorientation had passed, tom and matt crawled out of their shared bed and got dressed. matt had realized that he had forgotten to bring another shirt with him, so tom threw his asdf shirt at matt, the ginger barely catching it. 

"that's my favorite shirt, so treasure it," tom remarked, grabbing a random t-shirt from his closet and pulling it on over his bed hair. he closed his closet door, turning around to see matt sleepily rubbing his eyes under his glasses. tom's shirt was at least one size too big on him, so matt looked extra sleepy. 

"i feel awful," matt groaned, shuffling over to tom and wrapping his arms around him. tom returned the embrace, feeling equally awful himself. they were both sharing a nice little hangover, and by nice, tom meant aggressively pounding headaches and just generally bad hand-eye coordination.

matt pulled away suddenly, an odd expression on his face. 

"what's wrong?" tom murmured. matt didn't say anything, his eyes widening as he quickly ran out of the room. tom blinked, confused, and he wandered out into the hallway. there was a weird noise coming from the bathroom a little ways down the hall, and tom belatedly recognized it as matt throwing up. oh. 

tom walked down the hallway into the bathroom to see matt practically hurling his guts out into the toilet. he went over to matt, kneeling down on the floor next to him and rubbing his back as he shook like a leaf and kept throwing up. 

after what seemed like a while, matt finally stopped vomiting, heaving for breath. he spat into the toilet, shakily standing up. 

"that was so disgusting," matt said, shutting the toilet lid and flushing. "sorry you had to see that." tom shook his head, following matt to the sink. 

"no, it's fine. this is only your... fourth time getting really drunk and hungover, right? it's justified." matt smiled weakly, rinsing his mouth with the tap water before staring at his disheveled appearance in the mirror. tom heard him hum disapprovingly, then gasp, his fingers flying to his neck. 

"oh my god," he whispered, tilting his head. tom moved a little closer to see what matt was seeing, sucking in a breath when he did. little purple-red marks dotted the entire left side of his neck, almost as reoccurring as the freckles flecking matt's skin. matt frantically pulled down the neckline of his shirt, gasping again. 

"wow, uh, sorry," tom lamely apologized, staring at even more marks gathered around matt's collar bone. matt was pulling up his shirt now, and they both discovered that the marks were all over his chest and lower back. 

"jesus christ!" matt hissed. "how many hickeys did you even leave?" tom shifted his weight awkwardly, matt turning around to look at him. 

"i said i was sorry," tom mumbled, dragging out the y in sorry. matt stifled a laugh, grabbing the front of tom's shirt and pulling him closer. tom went to make a noise of protest, matt's lips connecting with his neck. it was weird, tom didn't think matt had ever kissed his neck, but, wait, woah, matt was sucking on his neck now. tom felt and heard and soft snap, and he smiled to himself. 

tom's mom decided to walk past the open bathroom door at this very moment, one in which matt was still tonguing and sucking at tom's skin. tom's mom stopped at the door, and neither of them noticed her until she cleared her throat. tom and matt tore away from each other, their faces reddening. 

"morning, boys," tom's mom greeted, a rather smug look on her face. tom's 'g'morning, mom' blended with matt's 'good morning, mrs. ridgewall'. she leaned against the doorframe of the bathroom, crossing her arms. 

"i understand that you two were up late," she said, checking her nails as she spoke. "tom, i do hope that you plan to wash your sheets." tom's face erupted the most shocking shade of red as he gaped at his mother. matt was similarly humiliated, intensely staring at the bathroom floor with his face nearly the same color as the lipstick on tom's mother's lips. 

"m-mom--" tom's mom smiled, and it was a knowing smile, a smile that said 'i, in fact, know everything'.

"now, i am aware that you two love each other, but next time, please do try to be a bit less vocal? recall that i sleep two doors down from you." tom opened his mouth to stammer an explanation or something, but she just gave him that knowing smile again. 

"also," she added, shaking her perfectly manicured finger at them. "be more responsible if you're going to get wasted. there's some tylenol downstairs in the kitchen, so get yourself some of that, won't you?" tom was rendered speechless, and his mom took that as the ending point of the conversation. 

"alrighty then. i'm off to work, loves. try not to break anything or make a lot of messes while i'm gone, okay?" tom managed a meager 'okay' as he watched his mom smile again and trot down the hallway. it was silent for a long stretch of time, a long enough stretch that tom could hear his mom exiting the house, the door closing behind her. 

that was the oddest lecture he'd ever gotten in all of his fifteen years, and he was sure that matt could say the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love this a lot actually ahfjnsns,,,,, i also love writing tom's mom :000 she's wonderful
> 
> but y'all ive got a hanahaki chapter in the works and i'm super hype so >;3


	38. hanahaki

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had way too much fun writing this
> 
> so much fun, in fact, that this amounts to 2970 words
> 
> pls accept this gift from me, loves

a scary and unfortunate thing had started happening. two scary and unfortunate things, actually. the most important of the two was that matt was hopelessly, helplessly pining after the boy that sat a couple desks down from him in biology. that same boy sat right next to him in algebra, and in front of him in english. every time matt would pass by him in the halls between periods, his heart would beat faster and he'd get all blushy and fidgety. his grades were even starting to falter a little, matt spending more time daydreaming and thinking about tom than paying attention in class. tom was the boy's name, by the way. a perfect name for a perfect boy.

the second scary and unfortunate thing was that matt had begun coughing up flowers. sunflowers, and occasionally roses, to be exact. it was probably the most uncomfortable thing he had ever experienced in his life. he'd be calmly eating dinner with his parents, then he'd randomly get an awfully tingly sensation in his throat and suddenly he'd be coughing. coughing so hard that he'd need to excuse himself from the dining table.

he would rush to the bathroom, choking bloody flower petals into the sink. it was painful, but almost beautiful in the most morbid way possible. he'd gasp for breath when the bout of coughing was over, blood dripping out of his mouth and plopping into the gorey flower arrangement that was the sink.

so far, this awkward flower coughing thing hadn't happened in school. so far. the only person that knew about it, besides matt himself, was edd, but solely because matt was somewhat obligated to tell the brunette everything since they were best friends and all. the flower coughing thing had also happened while matt was at edd's house one time, so edd had firsthand experience.

edd had just stared at matt in something between awe and disgust while matt had coughed up flowers and blood into the trashcan next to edd's bed. when matt had recovered and wiped the spit and blood from his mouth, edd made a stunned noise.

"holy shit," was all he said, his eyebrows raised so high that they'd practically vanished into his mop of hair. "that was fucking insane." matt let out a breath, pushing up his glasses.

"it fucking hurts, that's for sure. my throat is raw." there was a silence, and then edd asked him to do it again as he brushed his monster bangs out of his face.

\---

it was a normal day in english, the school day almost over. matt was completely ready to go home, but the teacher decided to assign a worksheet for the class to do in groups of two. matt glanced around as everyone got into partners, and realized with a sinking feeling that he didn't really have any friends in this class.

matt considered asking to work by himself, but the person in front of him turned around in his chair and cast a very charming, very metallic smile at him. matt felt his ears start to burn, and he offered a small, flustered smile back, his heart pounding in his chest.

"do you want to be partners?" tom asked, and matt blushed, and then immediately hated himself for blushing.

"s-sure," he stammered, pushing his glasses up his nose a little and attempting to compose himself, an attempt that didn't work. tom flashed that handsome smile again, turning all the way around in his chair so he was facing matt.

"cool," he said, taking his worksheet and putting it on matt's desk. matt watched tom scrawl his name onto the paper with a checkered mechanical pencil. tom pointed at the first question on the worksheet, and matt discovered that there was very chipped black nail polish on tom's nails.

tom started talking, but matt wasn't necessarily listening. he'd completely zoned out, admiring his crush up close for the first time. man, tom was so attractive, with the hair, and the face, and the braces. definitely the braces.

he wished that he wasn't so scared of asking tom to go out with him, because if he wasn't, he probably would have asked tom right here and now. but, he was terrified. absolutely terrified. he didn't know how tom would feel with a guy asking him out, especially one of the dorkiest guys in the whole freshman class. like, come on. matt was best friends with the boy whose bangs were longer than the great wall of china and whose arms were always covered in elaborate doodles of god knows what.

matt gazed at tom, his chin propped upon his hands, and he'd give small smiles and nods while tom explained whatever he was explaining. matt was hearing tom's voice, but not really listening, off in a world of his own. a world where he and tom were married and happy and had a bunch of dogs and kids and a lot of time in bed having--

the tingling sensation crawled up matt's throat, and he snapped back to the real world. oh no. oh god. he stifled a cough, a stray sunflower petal drifting onto the desk. tom stopped saying whatever he was saying, blinking at the flower petal for a moment and then blinking at matt.

"where'd that come from?" he said. matt shrugged, feeling himself about to go into a coughing fit no matter how hard he tried to shove it down.

"i have no idea," he lied. it was quiet between them for a minute, tom looking like he was about to resume the words he'd been previously saying, but then matt started to cough. tom just stared at matt for a second, unsure of what to do, but when he saw the first drop of blood hit the desk, he freaked.

"holy fuck," he said, his eyes wide. "holy fuck. are you okay? holy shit, you're coughing up blood." matt managed to shake his head, as in 'no, i'm not okay, i'm not fucking okay'. he covered his mouth with his hands, knowing that if he didn't get out of here soon, he was going to start coughing up flowers and even more blood in front of the whole class.

tom quickly stood up, grabbing matt's arm and pulling him out of his chair, to the front of the classroom, and halfway out the door.

"thomas, matthew, where are you--" tom interrupted the teacher, pushing matt out the door.

"the nurse." tom flashed a smile, then slipped out the door, leaving the teacher and the class confused.

tom pulled matt all the way down a couple hallways until matt yanked his arm out of tom's grasp, doubling over and letting it all spill out of him. he heaved and choked out so many flowers, so much blood, and it wasn't stopping. at this rate, matt was honestly going to pass out.

an eternity passed, and matt finally stopped regurgitating bloody flora onto the hallway tile, gasping for air as he fell to his knees in front of the mess he'd made. that bout of coughing was probably the worst he'd ever had. he almost felt like crying, his throat burning like hell. he didn't make any move to wipe the tears when they came, and they rolled down his face in fat, ugly globs.

he'd nearly forgotten that tom was right there until he felt arms around him and tom shooshing him. it was strange, matt realized as he began to sob grossly. if all it really took to get tom to notice him was to vomit flowers and bawl like a three year old, he would have done it forever ago.

\---

matt thought that tom would be horrified and just all around grossed out by matt and his little condition. turns out, it was the exact opposite, and matt found himself actually befriending the boy he had fallen oh so hard for. he'd still blush and stammer when tom was around, but in a less noticeable way that didn't scream 'hi, i'm so terribly gay for you'.

the flower coughing thing had gotten increasingly worse though. it had gotten so bad that on some days, matt would be forced to stay home from school, and he'd spend 75% of those days in bed, coughing up petals. the spurts of coughing lasted from a couple seconds to nearly five minutes.

the whole blood and flowers issue made matt so much more emotional. he cried a lot, over very little things like his mom telling him to drink water when he didn't want to or deleting something off his computer unintentionally. most of his days were spent crying and coughing, and it sucked ass. his parents didn't know what was wrong with him, and matt would overhear them murmuring about how sensitive and fragile their child had become.

"you feel okay?" tom asked over the skype call that they were having. it had become routine for them to call each other at ungodly hours of the night, and it comforted matt a little.

"no," matt admitted, picking at fuzzballs on his sweater. "i just got done throwing up more fucking flowers. i'm ready to off myself." tom clicked his tongue, the noise echoing in matt's earphones.

"don't say that." matt rolled his eyes, taking off his glasses and setting them on his bedside table.

"i'm not kidding though. i'm sick of these flowers, i'm sick of all the blood in my trash cans, i'm sick of my parents looking at me like i'm insane, i'm sick of crying all the damn time--" matt's chin started to tremble, and he sniffed, looking away from his computer screen.

"matty," tom murmured when matt started to cry silently. he was so weak and pathetic and being in love with the friend that talked to him at two am when he felt unstable was not helping in the slightest. tom didn't say anything as matt sobbed quietly to himself. he fucking hated himself. dying sounding so very blissful.

matt heard the rustling of clothes and sheets in the background.

"where do you live?" tom asked, and it seemed like he was walking around his room holding his computer.

"what?" matt blubbered.

"where do you live?" tom repeated, matt telling him and then asking why. tom laughed like it was obvious.

"i'm coming over. right now." matt sputtered, glancing at his clock. it was almost 2:30.

"right now?? i can't just let you in through the front door."

"you sleep at the front of the house behind that hedge, don't you?" matt blinked, wiping his tears with the heel of his hand. how tom knew that, he didn't know.

"...yeah."

"i'll be at your house in ten, okay?" matt sputtered again, trying to protest against this mania, but tom ended the call before he could get anything out. he stared at his computer screen for almost a minute, then sighed, closing his laptop and putting it on his bedside table with his glasses.

the actual situation settled onto him, and he realized with a start that the boy he was crushing terribly hard on was coming to his house. matt's gaze shot around the room. his bedroom was a disaster, and he knew he also looked like a disaster without even looking in the mirror. he probably had red eyes and dark circles from crying so much, and he wasn't even wearing pants.

he fretted over what he should do for a long time, not wanting to get up and make noise and risk waking his parents. before he knew it, there was a soft tapping at his window and he still didn't have pants on. matt's heart hammered, and he shoved his glasses on, jumping out of bed and scurrying to the window.

"i can't believe you're here right now," matt hissed after he'd opened the window and tom had climbed haphazardly into his bedroom. tom looked around matt's messing room as matt closed his window.

"nice pants," he remarked, making matt's face erupt in a blush. he was still in his bright purple boxer shorts, tom snickering. matt hurriedly scanned the floor for something to put on, but tom dismissed it with a passive wave of his hand.

"nah, i'm kidding. it's cool." despite this, the blush didn't fade from matt's face. tom kicked off his shoes and collapsed onto matt's bed, snuggling into the sheets. matt wandered over to the bed, sitting down, and then standing back up, feeling a flower upchuck coming on.

"i'm sorry--" matt managed to tom before promptly retching an abundance of rose petals into a nearby trash can. this time, it wasn't as bad, lasting only a minute or so. it was painful nonetheless, and matt started to cry for the second time in the span of fifteen minutes. how utterly pathetic.

crying was even more embarrassing than usual, considering that he wasn't properly dressed, he was exhausted, and tom was at least two feet away. he was crying and he couldn't stop crying, his shoulders shaking, his whole body shaking. he was sleep deprived and sick and practically suicidal at this point. the cycle of crying and coughing had lasted for weeks and weeks without end.

"c'mere," tom said, beckoning matt's tearful self closer. matt stumbled over, laying down in bed next to tom's body. tom's touch was warm and comforting and welcoming, and matt was sobbing harder than he'd ever sobbed before because he couldn't believe what was happening.

tom wrapped his arms around him, his lips by matt's ear as he whispered soft things to matt to calm him down. matt cried himself to sleep, tom's heart rhythmically beating against his back.

\---

the days following tom's surprise sneak in were shockingly normal. matt managed to show his face in school again and the number of daily flower vomits went from four or five to one or two. matt was still pretty sensitive, but he didn't cry over everything like he used to. things were starting to look up for him.

one thing that bothered him, though, was tom. they hung out a lot, but there was this weird new vibe between them. matt found that he couldn't read any of tom's facial expressions, so there was always this unknown factor. it was slightly unsettling.

the days went on and the fits of flower coughing were farther and farther between. it confused matt, and he expressed this fact to tom one evening up on his roof.

"i don't think i've coughed up flowers in more than four days," he said, squinting at the setting sun. "it's weird. it had gotten so bad, and now it's just... stopped. i don't even know what caused it." tom didn't say anything, picking at a hole in his jeans. matt stared at him.

"i think i know what was wrong with you," tom finally enunciated, slowly. matt straightened, this new information interesting him. tom didn't say anything for another stretch of time, matt pursing his lips with eagerness.

"yeah?" he said, trying to encourage conversation.

"there's this thing called... hanahaki disease. some kid i used to go to school with was a huge weeb, and we were sort of friends. he'd show me anime where people would cough up flowers because the person they loved didn't love them back. one of the ways to cure the condition was through surgery, but any romantic feelings the person had would... just vanish." tom paused. "the other way to cure it is for the person that they loved to love them back, and then the disease would go away without any side effects. i didn't think it was real, hanahaki disease, i mean, until i saw you coughing up flowers in the hallway that one time." it fell silent, and matt merely blinked at tom, who was looking off into the distance.

"so... you're saying that the person i loved didn't love me back?" matt asked, this whole explanation making him feel lightheaded. "but now they do?" tom nodded slowly, still picking at the rip in his jeans. matt's heart tripled its rate. no way. no fucking way.

"tom," matt said. "are you... are you--" tom huffed irritably, looking at matt for the first time in this whole conversation. he looked hurt, but that didn't make any sense. matt didn't say anything to offend him, at least he didn't think so.

"i hope you and whoever you love are happy," tom interrupted. matt searched tom's face, and it dawned on him. tom thought that he loved someone else. tom was jealous.

"n... n-no! tom, you don't understand, i--" tom stared at him with a flat expression as matt grasped for things to say. there was absolutely no way for him to clear this up without being the awkward kid he was.

"i love you!" matt blurted, his face probably scarlet. "i love you. from the first time i saw you, i think, i loved you. you're perfect and amazing and talented and i don't understand how you could possibly love someone like me. you love me, right? otherwise i wouldn't have stopped--" suddenly, tom's lips were on his and tom's hands were in his hair and they were kissing, _they were kissing_. matt was on cloud nine and he never wanted to come down, ever.

tom pulled away after what had been a much too short moment. they gazed at each other for a very, very long time before tom stiffened, his pitch dark eyes widening.

"oh, i'm gay," he said as if he hadn't realized this fact. matt didn't hesitate on grabbing tom's sweatshirt by the front and kissing him like nobody's business.

"i'm gay too," matt murmured when he broke away from the kiss. "i'm so terribly gay for you."


	39. all better

the rubbing alcohol drenched cotton ball dabbed at tom's cheek, making him hiss at the sting. he flinched away from the cotton ball and matt frowned, his eyebrows knitting together. 

"stop moving," matt said in an imperative but gentle tone. "this is what you get for getting in fights." tom would've rolled his eyes but here wouldn't have been any point. matt moved to continue dabbing at the wound on tom's face. 

"i didn't start it," tom grumbled, folding his arms over his chest. "'s not my fault that the dude's girl was rubbing up on me." it was matt's turn to roll his eyes and he pulled away, rummaging in the bathroom cabinet for bandaids.

"sure, tom." matt found the box of bandaids and took one out, turning back to tom and gingerly applying it to tom's cheek. "if i hear about another girl, though, i'll be giving you some bruises myself." matt shook his fist at him, and tom barely registered the rings on his fingers. tom shrugged, honestly not sure if matt was playing or not. 

"sorry," he said halfheartedly, matt made this disbelieving hum, cleaning up the first aid things. once he was done putting everything away, he looked at tom, leaning on the bathroom counter. 

"your black eye makes you look kind of hot," he remarked, his fingernails drumming on the countertop. tom replied with an amused snort, his fingers ghosting the new purplish bruise under his eye that was going to stick around for the next two weeks.

"really," he said, matt giving a small smirk and a single nod.

"really. i find myself very attracted to you right now." tom stood up from his spot on the toilet lid and walked the couple steps to stand in front of matt, who had his face set in and expression that tom couldn't read, but found handsome nonetheless. matt draped his arms over tom's shoulders, one hand playing with tom's messy hair. 

"is that so? why don't you kiss me all better then?" tom suggested with a grin, one eyebrow raised. matt appeared to take a millisecond to consider this request, then smiled. 

"i think i will." they stood there smiling at each other almost dorkily for a moment before matt leaned in and softly kissed the bandaid on tom's cheek. his lips lingered, then drifted up to just under tom's left eye. matt left at least six kisses in that spot, giggling quietly. 

"i love you," he murmured against tom's skin, kissing him on the mouth. tom's hands found their way onto matt's waist, and he mumbled the words back to the ginger between kisses. he already felt all better. matt had a way of doing that to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was a very dissatisfying update lol
> 
> i swear i've got better stuff planned lmao,, i've just been a lil busy lately?? school started up a while ago & i still have to work on updates for vimlr + pstthaw also ;;;
> 
> pls bear with me aaa,,, :') tysm


	40. divorce

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is sort of a vent chapter sorry
> 
> my parents are making me feel weird shit

matt's parents didn't love each other, and matt knew it. they used to be quiet when they fought, trading soft angry words and glares across the dinner table. nowadays, it was full-on arguments, screaming and yelling and swearing like nothing matt had ever heard. once, matt could have sworn that he heard someone shattering a vase in the living room. 

after matt had abruptly come out to his parents, the fighting had just gotten worse. the loudness of the arguments had increased and no matter how high matt put the volume on his music, he could still hear everything. 

there were fights almost everyday, over every little thing. it was like his parents intentionally picked fights with each other. matt had been on the couch watching tv and talking to tom on the phone one time while his parents were having a "discussion" in the other room. 

"who's talking in the background?" tom asked, matt giving a sigh and switching the television channel. 

"my parents. they're arguing over whether mom is allowed to go dancing with her friends this weekend. it's stupid, really." matt flopped onto his stomach, hugging one of the couch pillows. 

"i'd kidnap you and have you live with me if i could," tom stated, making matt grin and make some kissy noises into the phone. he heard tom laugh and return the kissy noises.

"i love you so much," matt murmured. "let's run away together." he wasn't really paying any attention to the television anymore, absorbed with whispering sweet things into his phone and giggling at the sweet things tom would whisper back to him. 

suddenly there was a loud scream from the other room, causing matt to jerk into a sitting position. it wasn't a scream like bloody murder, but it was a scream like intense frustration. 

"divorce!" matt heard his mom scream. "i want a divorce!" 

"matt?" tom's voice went, and matt didn't answer, just turned off the tv and got up from his spot on the couch. "babe, is everything good over there?"

"divorce?! that's what you want?" his dad yelled back. "i'll give you a divorce!" matt swallowed, and went to the front door.

"can you pick me up?" matt said to tom. "i don't want to stay here anymore." tom made an understanding noise, and matt heard rustling in the background. matt slipped out the front door, leaving the yelling and arguing behind him. 

"yeah, babe. i can come pick you up. just hold on, alright?" matt mumbled an "okay", plopping himself down on the front step. he could still hear the fighting from outside. 

"please don't hang up," matt said quietly. he was hurt, but he didn't really know why. he knew everything that was going on; he was expecting this to happen, but it still hurt. he sniffed, trying to hold back his tears. 

"don't worry. i won't hang up," tom assured. "i'll be there in ten. i'm getting into my car right now." matt went to say something else, but the front door burst open, his mom storming out. 

"michelle!" his dad yelled from inside the house. "michelle!!" matt's mom stomped past matt on the front step, going to her car on the curb. 

"mom?" matt said in a small voice, holding the phone away from his ear. "mom--" his mom climbed into her car, slamming the door closed. he heard footsteps behind him, heavy, angry footsteps. 

"michelle!" his dad bellowed, making matt shrink into himself. his mom's car rumbled to life, driving down the street. matt's dad groaned, lingering on the front step for a moment before turning to go back inside. 

"come back inside, matt," his dad said softly. matt shook his head stiffly, and it took him a second to notice that he was crying. 

"no," he mumbled. "i'm not coming inside." 

"matth--" 

"no." matt put the phone back up to his ear, sniffling. he needed to stay strong. his dad stayed on the porch for a minute, before walking inside and shutting the door softly behind him.

"tom," matt's voice wavered. "tom, it's really bad." 

"baby, i'm literally just down the street. i can see your house from where i'm at," tom replied. just as tom said the words, matt could hear the faint noise of a car down the street. he stood up from his spot on the front porch and made his way down the sidewalk. tom's cute blue car stopped right in front of matt. 

the car turned off, and tom got out and walked around the front. just seeing tom's face made matt's knees feel weak and he started crying harder, shoving his phone into his pocket and almost throwing himself into tom's outstretched arms. tom rubbed his back, murmuring soft little things into his hair.

after some time, tom led matt into the car and started to drive down the road. matt fingered his seatbelt, sniffing and wiping away his drying tears with his opposite hand. 

"so where are we going, matty?" tom asked as he turned a corner. matt shrugged, reaching over the armrest and grabbing tom's free hand. he laced their fingers together, looking out the window aimlessly. 

"anywhere." matt looked from the window to tom's face. tom's gaze flicked from the road to matt for a second. 

"we should really run away," matt said, pushing up his glasses. "i'd love to ditch school and my stupid parents and just run away with you. you're honestly all that i need." matt saw a brief smile tug at tom's lips and all matt wanted was to grab tom's perfect face and plant kisses all over it. 

"i'd definitely run away with you," tom responded, looking away from the road to give matt a charming metallic smile. matt's heart melted. he was so fucking gay for this boy. he dreamed of the day where he would wake up next to him every morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok but writing tomatt never fails to put me in a good mood like bls
> 
> try it someday
> 
> writing pure and gay ships will instantly put you in a better mood 10/10 works every time


	41. running away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guYS LMAO THIS IS SO FUCKING LONG,,, ITS 3374 WORDS AHAHAHA IM PISSING MYSELF
> 
> i didnt mean to make it tHIS LONG BUT HEY THEY RAN AWAY AND ITS G A Y
> 
> oh this is a continuation of divorce fyi,, also its lowkey/highkey suggestive so ye ah ((basically they make out a fuck ton l m a o,,, theyre teens and theyre gay and theyre alone and nothing can stop them))

matt was awoken by a light tapping on his window. it was a soft tapping, but it was a frantic tapping. matt sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes to wake up a little more. his alarm clock said that it was almost two in the morning. who the hell was at his window at two in the morning??   
  
matt groggily climbed out of bed, reaching over to the nightstand for his glasses, and stumbled to the window in the dark, pulling the curtains away so he could see outside. a bright beam of flashlight shone back at him, and he flinched away from the sudden light. after a couple seconds of blinking, he saw that it was tom behind that flashlight, smiling dorkily. tom gestured for matt to open the window, and he did.    
  
tom climbed into matt's room, and matt vaguely remembered the times when he would sneak tom into his room late at night. those were good times while they lasted. tom brushed off hedge remnants from his shirt, practically bouncing with excitement.    
  
"tom," matt mumbled, not fully awake yet. "what are you doing here this early?" tom planted a lightning quick kiss on matt's lips and darted across the room to matt's dresser, throwing open one of the drawers as quietly as possible.    
  
"we're running away!" tom whisper-shouted excitedly, digging through the dresser. these words perked matt up, and he went over to tom, putting his hands on tom's frantic ones.    
  
"we're running away?" matt repeated slowly. tom nodded, flashing that dorky smile again.   
  
"get some clothes 'n' shit. i was thinking we could leave town or something for a couple of days and then come back." matt realized that tom was serious, completely serious. oh jesus. they were gonna run away.    
  
"oh my god," matt breathed. "yes, fuck yes. let's run away." tom's smile got even bigger and matt felt himself smiling too. tom moved away from the dresser, scanning the dark room.    
  
"get a backpack and maybe put clothes and stuff in it. i already got a shit ton of food, so you don't need to worry about that." tom tapped his chin in thought as matt went ahead and started shoving random clothing items inside a nearby bag.    
  
"uh, i've technically got everything we need. i just needed your clothes and then you, of course," tom finished. matt zipped up his backpack with some effort, and then slung it onto his back. he searched the floor for some socks and his pair of purple converse, eventually finding both and hurriedly putting those on. he didn't really care that he was still in his pajamas, boxer shorts and an old, oversized shirt. he was running away! with his boyfriend! how fucking cool was that??   
  
they giggled about how awesome this was like little kids for a moment, before tom told him that they should probably go. matt stopped at his desk on his way to the window, scribbling a little note to his parents.    
  
_ i ran away with tom <3 _ , he wrote.  _ i'll be back soon. don't come looking for me, alright? _ matt smiled at the sticky note, tearing it off the pad and sticking it onto the wall above his desk. tom was already outside, and matt clumsily climbed out behind him, softly managing to close the window.   
  
tom grabbed matt's hand and they ran across the front yard to tom's car, giggling the whole way.   
  
\---   
  
tom drove and drove and drove, and matt fell asleep in the passenger seat, his head resting on the window. he woke up when tom stopped at a gas station, the sun actually out now. matt rubbed his eyes under his glasses, looking out the window at the road. it looked like they were literally in the middle of nowhere, the only thing across from the gas station being a rundown-looking mcdonald's.    
  
tom got back into the car, reaching over and rubbing matt's shoulder with a smile.    
  
"you're up," tom said, stating the obvious. matt stuck out his tongue, grabbing tom's hand and pulling tom as close as his seatbelt would allow. matt leaned in the remaining distance and gave tom a big, hot kiss on the mouth. tom made this hum into the kiss, his hand cupping the side of matt's face.    
  
the kiss lasted a little longer than matt intended, but at that point he didn't think that he minded. kissing tom was nice. it was great, actually. probably one of his favorite things. they broke away for a short breath, their lips connecting again. the next thing matt knew, he was unbuckling his seatbelt and he was crawling over the armrest into tom's seat.    
  
they were on each other, all over each other, and they were literally making out in the middle of nowhere, making out in a car in an empty gas station. the car was hot, the kisses were hot, and tom was really fucking hot. so very hot. when matt's hands began to pull up the hem of tom's shirt, tom broke the kiss.    
  
"matt, i have to drive," tom murmured breathlessly. matt whined quietly, leaning away from tom's face. tom ran a hand through his hair, a smile on his lips.    
  
"look," tom said, brushing a stray orange hair from matt's face. "you can kiss me as much as you want when we get to where we're going, okay?" matt pretended to consider this, getting off tom's lap and settling back down into the passenger seat.    
  
"okay," matt agreed, buckling his seatbelt. "i love you." tom started the car, blowing a kiss to matt.   
  
"i love you too," tom replied, turning onto the desolate road. matt gazed at tom for a solid forty seconds, admiring his wonderful boyfriend's profile. the sun backlit tom's face and matt almost died. god, was it possible to be this in love at fifteen?   
  
after thirty minutes or so, tom turned the car onto a rocky backstreet. the road led to a quaint patch of woods and tom parked the car in a space that seemed to be meant for parking. tom turned off the car, stretching.    
  
"we're here," he said, matt opening the door and leaning out of it. the air smelled nice, woodsy and less humid than it was back home. the greenery was beautiful and the hours of driving proved to be worth it.    
  
"where even are we?" matt asked, getting out of the car and looking around. tom shrugged, getting out of the car himself.    
  
"my dad used to take me here when i was younger. we made some nice memories here and i thought it would be cool if you and i made some memories here." matt instantly thought of some really, _ really _ nice memories he could make with tom and he felt himself smile.   
  
he watched tom walk around to the back of the car and open the trunk. he proceeded to take out a bunch of shit and he motioned for matt to come over and help him carry some of it. matt noticed that tom insisted on carrying the heavier things, and matt found that completely adorable.    
  
they trekked into the woods for a couple minutes until they came upon a clearing with a little creek running through it. it was all just perfect, and matt couldn't stop gushing about it. he was alone with his boyfriend in the middle of the woods, and he was probably the happiest he'd ever been in his entire fucking life.   
  
\---   
  
tom had brought practically everything one would ever need. matt didn't even know that tom was an outdoorsy person, but apparently he was, because he'd brought a tent, sleeping bags, a fuck ton of extra blankets, and technically everything but the kitchen sink.   
  
it was getting a little dark now, setting everything up had taken a while. matt was bundled up in one of the thousand blankets tom had brought in front of the fire tom had miraculously started. tom tossed a bottle of water at him, and matt barely caught it.    
  
"stay hydrated," tom said with a wink. matt snorted with laughter, opening the water and taking a sip. tom was stirring a pot of baked beans and chopped up hot dogs over the fire, and matt smiled to himself. he really loved the idea of tom enjoying camping.   
  
faint music started playing from the direction of tent, and matt shared confused look with tom. it took matt a second to realize that the music playing was a remix of the wii theme, his phone's ringtone.   
  
"hold on," matt mumbled, shaking the blanket off of him and walking to the tent. once inside, he dug around his backpack for his phone. it was his mom.   
  
"my mom's calling me," he called to tom.   
  
"don't answer," tom called back. "answering it would defeat the purpose of running away." tom proved a decent point, and matt let the call go to voicemail before turning off his phone. it was better that way.    
  
he made his way back out to the fire, and settled back down into his blanket. tom moved to sit next to him, handing him a steaming bowl with a spoon in it.   
  
"it's hot," tom said, blowing on his own bowl of food. matt set his bowl on the ground and pulled the blanket around the both of them. tom smiled a shy smile, matt cuddling up to him. matt picked up his bowl again, spooning beans into his mouth. it was hot, as tom had warned, and he burned his tongue by accident.   
  
"shit, that really is hot," matt remarked, tom clicking his tongue.   
  
"told you," tom teased, pinching matt's cheek. matt laughed, batting tom's hand away. a content silence fell over them as they ate, the only noise being the clink of spoon against bowl.    
  
"does your mom know that you took the car?" matt asked after a while. tom nodded, taking a couple more bites of his food.    
  
"yeah. i told her that i was coming over here with you," he said, putting his empty bowl on the grass. matt gave tom a puzzled look.    
  
"wait, you told her that you were coming over here?" tom nodded again, this nod an over-exaggerated one paired with a smile. he grabbed matt's hand once matt had put down his own empty bowl.    
  
"yup. i told her that you're going through some shit and that you wanted to get away from it all, and i was gonna get you away from it. she thought it was a good idea, so she let me borrow the car." matt mumbled a soft "wow".    
  
"i love your mom," matt said. "she's so cool. she practically lets you do whatever you want." tom chuckled, putting an arm around matt's shoulders. it was quiet for another moment.    
  
"have you ever gone skinny dipping?" was what tom said next. matt's gaze shot from the  flickering fire to tom. no way, was he gonna--   
  
"nnno," matt replied hesitantly, pressing his lips together. tom bit his bottom lip, a mischievous expression on his face. he nodded his head at the creek several feet away. matt's eyes widened behind his glasses as he attempted to hold in a laugh. tom shrugged the blanket off of him, proceeding to pull off his shirt. matt sucked in an amused breath, watching tom stand up and strip down to his underwear.   
  
"babe," tom singsonged, beckoning matt to get up. matt slowly stood up in front of tom and started to take off his shirt in an equally slow manner. tom laughed, reaching out and tugging matt's oversized shirt off. matt started to laugh too, discovering that he was still in his pajamas. they both stripped down to nothing, laughing like idiots as they held hands, running into the warm creek.   
  
\---   
  
matt woke up in the tent, half dressed, though he wasn't sure how he'd gotten in the tent or how he'd gotten clothes on. tom was cuddled up to his bare back, an arm draped over his body possessively. it was warm, and matt snuggled deeper into the covers. it was nice not waking up alone in his bedroom. it was nice waking up next to tom, in the middle of nowhere. he could certainly get used to this.   
  
tom made a soft noise into matt's hair, pulling matt closer to him. matt groped around the blankets for his glasses, putting them on when he found them. he turned to face tom, who was starting to wake up.    
  
"good morning, husband," he murmured, brushing tom's bed hair out of his face. he really liked the sound of the word husband. it showed so much promise and hope for the future. tom sleepily smiled at the word, blinking slowly.    
  
"mornin'," he murmured back, giving matt a quick peck on the forehead. they stayed like that for a while, their bare chests grazing each other. it looked like tom was almost falling asleep again when matt's stomach made an obscene noise. his face flushed, and tom snickered.    
  
"you hungry?" tom asked, pinching matt's freckled cheek. matt batted tom's hand off, giggling.    
  
"yeah."   
  
"do you want s'mores for breakfast?" matt perked up, grinning. his parents never, ever let him eat sweet things for breakfast. he nodded, and tom gave him another quick kiss before removing his arm from matt's body and sitting up.    
  
matt lingered in the tent after tom had put on a shirt and left the little enclosure. he could hear the fire crackling. tom rekindled it in preparation for breakfast. he sat up, leaning and reaching over for his backpack, hoping to find a proper shirt. after some digging around, he found a fuzzy teal sweater shoved near the bottom. he slipped it on and discovered that this was his "bi and ready to die" sweater, as it read on the front. it had been a silly coming out gift from edd because edd was a dork like that.   
  
matt exited the tent, the warm woodsy air hitting him. tom was seated next to the campfire, a plate of already made s'mores on one side of him. matt plopped down next to the plate, raking his fingers through his messy floof of orange.   
  
"you look cute," tom commented, giving an approving nod. matt smiled shyly, feeling flattered even though he was literally in a sweater and his underwear.   
  
"thank you," he replied softly, watching tom slide a toasted marshmallow onto a graham cracker. matt plucked a s'more from the plate and chewed on it thoughtfully.   
  
"what are we gonna do today?" he asked, tom smushing a melty piece of chocolate and another graham cracker onto the same toasted marshmallow as before. tom appeared to think about this, then shrugged, promptly popping the whole s'more into his mouth.    
  
"i have no idea. maybe we can take a walk? or if you want we can just hang out here the whole time, but that might get boring." matt scooted as close as he could to tom, the grass tickling the undersides of his thighs.    
  
"i won't ever be bored if i'm here with you," matt murmured. it should be a crime to feel this good. tom leaned his head on top of matt's, tossing the marshmallow toasting stick into the campfire and grabbing matt's hand.   
  
"i love you..." tom trailed off, some birds chirping in the background. matt smiled with content, squeezing tom's hand gently.    
  
"i love you too," he said back. tom shifted and gave him a sugary kiss, one that tasted like s'mores and sweetness and love and everything matt could ever want in his whole life.   
  
\---   
  
around lunchtime, matt pulled out his phone so they could listen to music while tom sorted out a deck of playing cards so they could play poker. matt had jokingly said something about strip poker, and tom had laughed, miraculously pulling out a deck of cards.    
  
tom dealt matt his hand of cards, matt turning on his phone, which promptly exploded with a bunch of texts from his mom. tom's eyebrows raised when he heard all the vibration alerts. matt ignored them, going to his music library and shuffling all of his music.   
  
some chill twenty one pilots and panic! at the disco songs played, setting a nice mood for watching tom take off his shirt for the second time this trip. strip poker continued, and the beginning notes of "primadonna" by marina and the diamonds began to play. matt practically lost his shit, turning the volume up as high as his phone would allow.   
  
"this is my favorite song!!" he exclaimed, starting to lip sync along with the lyrics. he did a little dance in his spot, tom laughing.   
  
"this song is so old," tom replied, watching matt jam out. "it's from, what, 2012?" matt stood up when the chorus started, dancing to the beat.   
  
"yup! it's an oldie but a goodie," he said, beckoning tom to dance with him as he sang along to the music. tom stood up, and matt took his hand, letting tom spin him around. they danced together for at least half of the song, matt laughing when tom spun him at least seven times consecutively. after the final turn, tom pulled matt real close, their noses brushing. matt breathily giggled, his eyes lidded.    
  
the music had interrupted their game of strip poker, so they were both more or less dressed, aside from tom's toplessness. matt didn't hesitate on leaning in quickly and planting a soft kiss on tom's lips, wrapping his arms around tom's neck.   
  
"remember when you said i could kiss you as much as i wanted when we got here?" matt mumbled, leaning in for another kiss, then another. tom chuckled, his hands wandering to matt's waist.    
  
"yeah," he said between kisses. "i remember." matt smiled into the kiss, his fingers threading through tom's brown hair. matt's body melted into tom's, his knees going weak as more kisses were exchanged. his tongue slipped into tom's mouth, tracing the metal of his braces. tom's hands snaked up matt's fuzzy sweater, and matt took a step back, not breaking the kiss.    
  
they managed to get all the way into the tent  without stopping their makeout session, things starting to heat up as they flopped down onto the mountain of blankets. matt was basically shivering, tom having a terribly bad case of wandering hand syndrome. tom started to kiss all down matt's neck, making matt bite his lip and quietly murmur tom's name.   
  
"i love you so much," tom said against matt's neck, his hand pulling up the front of matt's sweater. matt let out a hitched breath.    
  
"i love you too," he mumbled in a tone that was almost a moan but not really. "i love you so, so much."   
  
\---   
  
matt realized why tom had brought thirty million blankets. it was like he'd anticipated for at least 35% of them to get dirty, and he knew that matt liked to sleep under a lot of blankets when it was time for bed.   
  
after their prolonged burst of sudden passion and love professions, it started to get dark and tom made grilled cheese sandwiches over the once-again-rekindled fire like a boss. matt admired how versatile his boyfriend was as tom handed him a freshly made sandwich.    
  
"it's hot," he warned, matt adhering to the warning and blowing on it before he took a bite.    
  
"you're hot," matt said through his bite of sandwich, making a smoochy noise in tom's direction. tom's eyebrows raised when he smiled a toothy grin. it was quiet for a moment, the only noise being the fire crackling softly.    
  
"what do you think about going back home tomorrow?" tom finally asked. matt looked up from his sandwich, not expecting this question, even though he should've been.    
  
"i honestly don't want to go home, but i think that we should before we end up never going back," matt said, licking melted cheese from his fingers. tom nodded, opening a nearby bottle of water and taking a drink. they'd only been away for... two days? that kind of sucked. he wanted to stay with tom forever and ever, just him and his boyfriend, having the time of their lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi so how about that
> 
> i might write another continuation of this but nah not right now,,, ive still got reqs to do ?? like,, some ppl have asked me to write stuff for them like 5ever ago andistillhaventdoneit but i swear i'll work on the reqs ;)
> 
> also tyvm caden & aurora for reading this over ;)) i appreciate u


	42. up here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sort of an au where tom and matt havent seen each other since high school ;)

tom flipped through the rack of shirts, dissatisfied with the choices that were presented to him. didn't they have anything in black? or blue? all the clothes here were brightly colored, and tom's eyes were hurting from the vibrance of it all.

tom walked around the men's section of the department store, honestly ready to leave. maybe he could just find clothes at the thrift store like he usually did. distracted by his thoughts, he walked right into someone, that someone giving a little startled cry. tom blinked back to reality, quickly stepping back. 

"sorry," he said hurriedly. he'd bumped into a girl in a light purple sweater and a pair of pastel blue shorts, holding a shopping basket full of equally light colored clothes. she gave him a soft smile, and tom felt like he knew her from somewhere.

"it's alright. please do watch where you're going next time, though," she replied, brushing her orange hair out of her face. there was something rather off here. they stood there, looking at each other for an awkward moment. hang on, this wasn't a girl at all. was this a guy?

"wait," purple sweater stated, holding up a finger. "do i know-- tom?" tom started at the mention of his name, and he nodded slowly. 

"yeah? and you are?" purple sweater smiled, bigger this time. 

"matt! don't you remember? we used to go to high school together." tom searched his memories for a matt he'd known sometime in his life. he actually did remember a matt back in high school! that matt had been a bit dorky, a flaming theater kid who got periodically made fun of for being openly bisexual. that matt had been a skinny little beanpole, and, if tom recalled correctly, they'd been lab partners a couple times.

this matt was way, way different. the first thing that tom registered was matt's physique. tom had to admit, this matt was pretty damn thick. in all the right places too. the guy was practically a walking hourglass. and was he wearing makeup? it wasn't possible for someone to have that long of eyelashes naturally. christ, matt was definitely a sight to see. 

"i almost didn't recognize you," tom enunciated carefully, really meaning it. matt's fingers reached out and lifted tom's chin delicately, and tom realized with hot embarrassment that he'd been staring a tad too low.

"my eyes are up here, love," matt said softly, a tiny smile on his lips. it didn't seem like he was mad; it was almost like he was expecting it. matt waved it off, adjusting his hold on his shopping basket. 

"so how've you been? what have you been up to lately?" tom shrugged, his face still burning from his slip up. he pulled his hoodie sleeves down over his knuckles.

"nothin' really. i never was one for doing much." matt laughed at that, an airy, cute noise. fuck, it was so hard not to stare at places he shouldn't. matt was the sweetest eye candy tom had ever seen. 

"what, you're not in college?" matt questioned, causing tom to give another shrug. 

"i honestly don't see the point in going to college. it's just more work to prepare you for even more work." matt smiled this small smile, one that showed a little bit of his teeth.

"hey, you wanna sit down somewhere? it'd be nice to have an actual conversation with you," matt tapped tom's chest with two lithe fingers before swiftly passing by him, his fingers lingering just a moment too long. 

"you've grown," matt almost purred, his hand slowly drifting away. "meet me at the starbucks next door, hmm? i'll only be a minute." just like that, matt slipped away. tom couldn't help but watch matt walk off. he let out low whistle, one that matt apparently heard because he lifted his free hand and elegantly flipped tom the bird.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guys,,, g u y s,,, i really really r e a l l y love thicc matt wearing makeup like asjhdflakjdf
> 
> he's my therapy when my life is Shit //deep inhale//


	43. the future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guys i stg im not dead :"")
> 
> this was requested by pineapple_pissbaby like thirty million years ago and i just finished it today gaaah
> 
> pineapple i apologize,,,, idk if u even still read this fic lmAO

estranged. that would probably be the word tom would use to describe the relationship he had with matt nowadays. they were almost strangers in the same bed, physical affection becoming mandatory. there was love, yes, but a distant love, a waned love.

it was painful to see his relationship with matt crumble like this. it had changed, they'd changed, matt had changed. if tom had to pinpoint the very moment when things took a turn for the worst, he would have to say the albania mission. that mission had gone... terribly wrong, to say the least. 

that had been the mission where matt's face had gotten pretty mutilated, where matt had taken way too many chances during a fight. tom had found matt lying in the middle of the corpse-strewn square, nearly dead, blood coming out of every possible place. tom had panicked, panicked so badly that his hands shook like leaves in the wind when he went to call for a helicopter to pick them up.

matt had come back home from the red army's intensive care unit after three weeks, and he really wasn't the same. he didn't look the same, that was for sure, but he had changed on the inside. he was more reserved, more taciturn, more... morose. not at all like matt. 

sometimes tom would catch matt sitting on the edge of the bed, the whole bedroom dark, crying out of his one icy blue eye. tom didn't know what to do. he didn't know how to cross the rift that had suddenly split them apart. he did still love matt, metal chin and all, but it seemed that maybe matt didn't exactly love him back anymore. 

red leader had sent them on another mission, as he always did. there seemed to be an infinite amount of enemies and slightly annoying ex-girlfriends miffing the higher-ups, and this time they were attempting to hunt down that blasted edd vigilante that kept getting in the way of things.

the car was silent, tom watching the road and occasionally the quiet ginger in the passenger seat. matt was staring out the window as they passed dilapidated buildings and street corners, fiddling with the safety on his laser.

"i still find you undeniably handsome," tom informed out of nowhere, glancing at matt. matt made this scoffing noise, turning to look at tom with his eyebrows raised. 

"please," he snorted as he rolled his organic eye. "you couldn't possibly--" tom swerved the car over to the shoulder, matt releasing a little cry of surprise. he let the car hover there, a few feet above the pavement, and he looked directly at matt, visor to mismatched eyes.

"i do. i swear, i love you the same as when we first met all those years ago, when you were a bouncy little freckled thing that laughed all the time. i don't regret spending all these years with you, i really don't, and i honestly hope that you feel the same." matt shifted his gaze away from tom, appearing a bit uncomfortable.

"red leader is going to get mad if we--" tom held up a hand, silencing matt.

"matt, i don't care about red leader," he clarified. "i care about you, you and me, i care about us, and that's it." a dejected expression invaded matt's face, and he sighed, a sigh full of regret and sadness.

"i'm sorry," he apologized quietly, and tom briefly caught a glimpse of the man that he used to know, the expressive one that would cry during almost every chick flick. "i don't mean to be like this. i just don't feel like myself anymore, you know? looking in the mirror isn't as nice as it used to be." tom reached over the armrest and carefully grabbed matt's ice cold hand. matt's gaze flicked from somewhere off to the right to their now intertwined fingers.

"you'll always be beautiful to me," tom affirmed, coaxing matt to look at him by squeezing his hand. the corners of matt's lips twitched up, and it was quiet for a minute. matt finally squeezed tom's hand back, rubbing tom's knuckles with gentle brushes his thumb. 

"thanks, love," he said. tom couldn't even remember the last time matt had called him love, or called him anything, really. "it's nice to know that someone still thinks i'm pretty."

"absolutely," tom assured softly, daring to lean a little closer. matt's breath hitched just a tad, their noses almost touching. 

"may i?" tom murmured, his opposite hand ghosting matt's cheek. matt responded with closing the space between them, kissing him in that soft, sweet way of his. tom had almost forgotten how amazing of a kisser matt was after all this time.

it was almost just like how it used to be, tom's fingers nestled in matt's hair, matt's body close to his. it seemed like the whole world stopped and faded away for a moment, and all that was left was tom, matt, and this kiss. 

matt finally broke away, trying to catch a breath. tom slipped his hand out of matt's hair, and they stared at each other for a long moment. 

"i love you," matt said quietly. "i don't deserve someone like you." tom smiled and leaned back in his seat, letting go of matt's hand almost reluctantly. 

"i love you too." tom watched matt's lips finally pull into a soft smile, and then he started to drive the car down the street again. he went to put both hands on the steering wheel, but matt's hand shot out and grabbed his right hand. tom looked back at matt, who was gazing out the window as if he hadn't done anything.

tom squeezed matt's hand, not as soft as it used to be as a result of all those fights he'd been in over the years. he turned a corner, resuming the previous action of hunting down edd. 

after a minute of silence, matt squeezed tom's hand back. tom's heart burst with affection, and he struggled to keep his attention on the road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so,, i wrote an mpreg fic for this collection but,,,,,, idk how u guys feel about that kinda thing?? i wanted to know what you guys thought before i posted it and turned like a bunch of people off ;;;;;
> 
> otherwise i've got a bunch of other stuff that i'm working on that's less Taboo :")


	44. party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another high school au !!
> 
> i write most of my shit at like 10/11 pm so if it's rough, i'm v sorry

tom had been invited to a party. well, edd had told matt about this party, and matt asked if tom wanted to tag along with him and edd. matt had explicitly stressed that this was no ordinary party. it was the biggest, hugest party of the month. one of the uber popular jocks was hosting it because his parents were out of town for the weekend, and the whole high school was technically invited.

"i don't know," tom said hesitantly. matt pouted across the cafeteria table at him, those ocean blue eyes pleading him. edd was more or less indifferent, brushing his bangs out of his eyes and doodling on his arm with a green sharpie.

"tom, please," matt whined, poking the school-served spaghetti with his fork. "everyone's gonna be there." tom shrugged, resting his chin in his palm as he took a sip of his strawberry milk.

"since when you care about everyone? last time i checked, you said that everyone in this school besides a select few are imbecilic and not even close to being as attractive as you are."

"i didn't say that!" matt protested, stabbing his fork into his spaghetti. edd looked up from whatever he was drawing on his arm.

"you did say that," he confirmed before returning to what seemed to be a drawing of an elaborate tyrannosaurus rex on his left arm. matt stuck his tongue out at edd even though he wasn't paying attention anymore, then harrumphed, folding his arms over his chest.

"still. can we go?" matt begged to tom, puppy dog eyes assaulting tom's soft spot. tom worried his lip, setting his milk back on his lunch tray. he sighed, caving in.

"fine," he grumbled, matt completely lighting up. he clapped his hands together excitedly, then blew tom a kiss across the table.

"it'll be so much fun, i promise!" he said in a sweet voice, beginning to make kissy noises at him. tom chuckled, gazing into matt's sky eyes and returning some of the kissy noises. tom thought he heard edd tell them to stop, but by the time they stopped making kissy sounds, they had leaned across the table and started to actually kiss.

"guys, please," edd groused. "we're literally in the middle of the cafeteria. this is disgraceful to my already suffering reputation."

\---

friday night arrived as normal, but tom's stomach rolled when he thought about the approaching party. he'd never been to a real, actual party before, maybe only two if small birthday parties counted. he couldn't really understand why matt was so determined on going. they, tom, matt, and edd as a collective, were in an entirely different social circle than the boy hosting the mega event.

tom went along and picked matt and edd up anyways, even though he was dreading the coming events. he only had to drive to edd's house because matt had stayed over there from school, and the both of them toppled into his car, laughing maniacally. after brief hellos and greeting smooches (one in which edd made an unnecessary gagging noise as he laughed), tom focused back on the road.

he stole glances at what matt was wearing. the ginger was dressed up just a little, his clothing choices almost exactly how they usually were besides a pair of purple suspenders that tom had never seen on him before. he was also wearing a white shirt with a tiny bisexual flag in the middle, and tom smiled at the sight of it. looking at how flawless matt was made tom feel slightly underdressed in his old hoodie and jeans.

they didn't even need to use a gps to find the party venue. all they had to do was follow the lines of people and cars to a house that was already blasting thumping music. the house was enormous, being on the richer side of town, and there were people littered all over the manicured front lawn.

tom parked the car across the street, matt basically leaping out of the car before tom  
had even stopped it. the ginger was brimming with excitement, his converse dancing on the pavement.

"calm down," tom said, laughing as he got out of the car himself. edd was the last to get out of the car, and matt promptly made edd take a selfie with him. tom couldn't help but smile. matt was pretty cute.

tom made sure to grab matt's hand as they all walked together into the party. the house was bursting with people, and tom recognized some of his classmates that were hanging around the immaculately decorated foyer. edd said something that sounded like "this is kinda cool", but tom couldn't have been sure because the music was so loud.

somehow, tom ended up with a red plastic cup, and he almost cringed at how cliche this was turning out to be. he'd already had at least four people palm his ass, and he had totally lost matt and edd in the swarm of teenagers. he wandered around the house in search for matt, only finding several games of beer pong and lots of heterosexual making out. he considered searching the second floor, but he was afraid that the only thing that he would find would be things he was definitely not ready to see at this hour of the night.

on tom's way to the source of the blasting music, he thought he saw edd in a small crowd of people in a corner. as he got closer, he spotted edd's trademark bangs and smelled an uncomfortable amount of weed.

"hey!" tom called to edd, who momentarily stopped talking to a girl with icy blue hair and that weird kid with the probably russian accent. they all looked incredibly stoned.

"have you seen matt anywhere?" tom asked, stifling a cough. edd shook his head, holding what seemed to be a blunt. tom watched him take a lazy drag, then lean over and shotgun the marijuana smoke into the girl's mouth. the girl held the smoke in for a second, then passed it to the russian dude, who then returned it to an awaiting edd. tom squinted at the scene before him, not really sure how what just happened had worked.

"nah," edd finally answered, taking another drag. "haven't seen him for, like, an hour or somethin'." tom stepped away after quickly thanking him. he hadn't known that edd smoked weed. the more you know.

tom continued to follow the music, which by now was accompanied by some loud cheering. he walked into the next room, probably the living room, and was greeted with his ginger boyfriend dancing on the coffee table alongside some other guy who was probably a junior or a senior by the looks of him. unfortunately, they were dancing way, way, _way_ too close for tom to be okay with it. matt's back connected with the older boy's chest, his arms wrapped possessively around matt's waist. one of matt's arms was up in the air, his hand holding a half-empty bottle of who knows what. there was a thick crowd of cheering people around the coffee table, and tom had to practically fight his way through.

tom didn't have to yank matt right off that table, the song ending. the two peeled apart, matt giggling drunkenly before giving the other guy a quick kiss on the cheek. the crowd made a collective "oooo", clearing a tiny path for matt to hop down from the coffee table. matt did a sexy little turnaround, waving the fingers on his free hand playfully at his ex-dance partner.

tom let matt bump right into him, the crowd dispersing and reassembling in a different area to watch someone else down too much beer at once as a new song started up.

"oh, hi baby," matt purred, then giggled, dancing along to the new song. tom huffed, letting matt grind up on him.

"matt, you're drunk." matt threw his head back onto tom's shoulder, looking up at him. tom belatedly noticed that matt's suspenders were now uselessly hanging at his sides, and it honestly was kind of hot.

"what, 'n' you're not?"

"actually, for once, no." matt turned around, a coy smile on his lips. time sped up, and matt's mouth was on his, and he tasted like a thousand strawberry daiquiris and mint. the kiss was hot and alcoholic and tom didn't want to break away, but he had to before things escalated too quickly.

tom broke the kiss, and matt mistook it for an air breather, because after a moment, he leaned back in for another kiss. tom had to tilt his head to escape it, matt releasing a low whine that sounded strikingly similar to the type of noise that he would make in bed. not that tom was thinking about it.

"let loose," matt teased, nipping at tom's neck instead. "have a drink." tom would've rolled his eyes. he sloshed the beer in his untouched plastic cup around for good measure.

"i already have a drink." matt pulled away, proceeding to put the cup to tom's lips and coax him to drink the entire thing. tom downed the whole thing without any protest, then confiscated the cup and matt's bottle of something away. he grabbed matt's hand, placing the other items on a nearby table.

"let's leave before the cops get here," he said, pulling matt in the direction where he last saw edd. matt intentionally dragged his feet, whining.

"i don' wanna leave, tom. i wan' 'nother drink," matt slurred in response. tom pressed his lips together and tried to concentrate on finding edd presumably behind a cloud of weed smoke. if tom knew anything about matt and his ability to hold his liquor, the ginger was going to be puking his guts out in the very near future.

tom finally found edd behind the predicted cloud of smoke, but what he wasn't expecting was how edd was making out with both the blue-haired girl and the russian at the same time. they were that high, apparently. tom knew that edd aggressive claimed that he was completely, entirely straight, so he decided that he wasn't going to mention this particular event during any future conversations.

he wasn't so sure about matt though. his boyfriend had let out a long "oooooooo" when he saw edd and his two little friends. this didn't stop the three by any means, and they just kept going at it.

after a long while of pulling and begging, tom finally managed to get edd and matt outside of the still-raging party. matt was wasted as fuck, stumbling instead of walking, and edd was a whacked out mess, lipstick marks and hickeys all over his face and neck, respectively. tom's friends were giggling with each other, in a whole different world. suddenly, matt simply doubled over and started vomiting all over the lawn.

tom groaned. he couldn't wait to go home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> still debating whether or not i should post the mpreg thing or not ;)))) i actually ended up adding more to it, so it's wayyyy longer than it used to be hhhh,, might keep adding on until it doesn't make any sense to add any more lol
> 
> also i'm working on vimlr i swear i'm just busy fjsjd


	45. baby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so here's my 3.4k word mpreg fic that got way too out of hand
> 
> if u don't want to read this oop im sorry ive worked way too hard on this to not post it :""")
> 
> also this is a/b/o so it would make some sense as to why matt managed to get preggers lmaooo
> 
> alright enjoy this shit

the couch seemed to be the hot hangout spot for tom and matt. they'd slept on that couch, watched tv on that couch, ate on that couch, made love on that couch... it was a pretty great couch, full of nice memories, and here they were again, snuggled up sleepily on it. matt was humming softly to himself, tom running his fingers through matt's orange locks.

"hey, tom?" matt said after a beat. tom's fingers didn't slow, tom breathing in the smell of matt's fruity shampoo. 

"mm?" matt reached up and gently placed his hand around tom's wrist. he didn't say anything for a second, and tom nearly thought he'd fallen asleep. 

"you're the best alpha ever, you know that?" tom chuckled, burying his nose in matt's hair. 

"i'd like to think so."

"i love you very much," matt informed, nestling deeper into tom's form. their ankles crossed over each other, their mismatched socks rubbing together. 

"i love you too." it was quiet again, and the only sound was their rhythmic breathing. matt was warm, and he was making tom nice and cozy. he might doze off if it was silent for just a minute longer--

"tom, what do you think about the names pippa and august?" tom nearly sighed irritably at the question. matt had been absolutely obsessed with names for the past week or two, and tom was slowly going insane. he hadn't exactly asked why, not sure that he wanted to know. matt was the type of person to name everything, especially computers and plants. currently, matt's laptop was named bea and the succulent on one of his shelves was named potter. 

"they're fine," tom grunted in reply. "why?" he was greeted with another silence, matt shifting slightly.

"pippa's a nice name, don't you agree? it's very airy and pretty. penelope is beautiful too. i'm a sucker for names that start with p, i think." tom purses his lips and closed his eyes in an attempt to possibly fall asleep. maybe matt was planning on getting another one of those silly succulents for the living room.

"oh," tom heard matt basically coo. "what about pastel? i don't think that anyone's named anything pastel before. that would be a simply adorable name." tom huffed. 

"what are all these names for?" he asked again, noting how matt had deftly avoided his previous query. matt took tom's hand and gently placed it on his stomach, neither of them saying a word for a long, heavy moment.

"i'm pregnant," he murmured softly, resting his hand on top of tom's. tom laid there in stunned silence. 

"but the last time you were on heat, i thought we used--" matt laughed breezily, shaking his head. 

"you don't remember? all the condoms were gone, and we though that we were both clean enough to go through with it." matt turned around on the couch to face tom. "and now i'm pregnant. i found out a couple weeks ago, but i didn't know how to tell you." tom searched matt's face. this was actually happening.

"we're gonna have a baby," he breathed. "we're gonna be dads." he laughed with surprise as he felt the excitement start to build. matt was pregnant. they're going to have a kid, a real, legitimate kid. they were going to be a family, plus edd, of course, playing the role of the cool but naggy uncle.

"pippa and august are great names, babe," tom said, feeling himself beam. matt flashed a radiant smile back, leaning in and giving tom a happy peck on the lips.

"we're going to be amazing parents," matt gushed, rubbing his belly under his red t-shirt. tom slipped his own hand under matt's shirt, feeling the warmth of matt's skin. they lay there in the content silence they knew so well, their fingers lacing together under matt's shirt.

\---

they hesitated on telling edd, not sure if he would appreciate an addition to the house. it was going to be hard to keep the pregnancy a secret because of all the physical changes matt was starting to experience, so they decided to randomly break the news to edd over dinner at a chinese restaurant. 

"i'm pregnant," matt awkwardly blurted to edd from across the table. tom was squeezing matt's hand so hard under the table, and matt was doing the same, the both of them having death grips on each other's hands. edd literally choked on his chicken, his face turning red.

"excuse me?" he bit out. tom and matt exchanged a worried glance.

"we're having a baby," tom clarified, his heartbeat uncomfortably fast. "matt's almost a month pregnant." matt offered a sad little wave, looking almost as nervous as tom felt. edd simply stared at the both of them for nearly a full minute as he processed this information. the atmosphere got more than a little tense. 

"you guys!" edd finally exclaimed, slamming his palms onto the table. a wide smile split his face. "that's amazing! why didn't you tell me sooner? i'm so happy for you!" tom melted with relief, his grip on matt's hand loosening. matt audibly sighed, a tiny smile on his lips.

"we were afraid that you'd be... upset about it." edd laughed at that. 

"are you kidding? this is great! we need a nursery in the house somewhere. maybe the pool room...? we can fix that up, can't we?"

and so the months went on, and life went on, but not without the occasional mishap. matt's belly got bigger as time passed, and tom discovered that his little omega had started to go to bed earlier and earlier. matt also ate a bunch more. tom almost never saw him not eating, whole packages of cookies disappearing in two days tops.

tom and edd tagged along with matt to his first ultrasound. matt was determined that the baby was a girl, but tom managed to convince him to tell the doctor to not tell them the gender of the baby. he wanted it to be a surprise when the day finally arrived. matt had scrunched his cute nose at tom, reluctantly agreeing, but he still referred to the baby as "she" most of the time.

the pool room was converted to a nursery, painted in soft hues of purples and blues. matt had almost started to cry when tom and edd had revealed the finished room because he loved it so much. 

"it's beautiful!" matt cried, doing a full 360 to take in the whole room. edd and tom shared a satisfied look, feeling immensely proud of themselves. matt went over and wrapped the both of them in a bear hug.

"pip and i love it," he said when he pulled away from the hug. pip, of course, was the baby, the one that matt was dead sure was a girl destined to be named pippa. matt rubbed his hand on his stomach, smiling a smile that was full of pure happiness.

there were days, though, where matt's face wasn't radiant with joy and excitement. some mornings, matt would wake up, and then promptly throw up on the floor next to whoever's bed he happened to have slept on the night before. tom would have to deal with a sick matt all day long, feeding him and caring for him because matt felt much too awful to get up and do anything. 

the first and second trimesters seemed to fly by, and before everyone knew it, matt was well into his seventh month of the pregnancy. he was always tired, always hungry, and he always had to pee, but he was the most enjoyable human being tom had ever had the opportunity to be around. 

tom passed the open bathroom door, then backtracked to see matt standing in front of the sink with his shirt pulled up over his belly. at this point, matt always looked like he was a fully inflated beach ball under his shirt and tom found that to be the cutest thing ever.

tom wandered into the bathroom, and leaned against the wall next to the door to admire matt admiring his figure in the mirror.

"do you think that pip'll have eyes like me or eyes like you?" matt finally asked, turning to look at tom over his shoulder. tom shrugged. 

"don't think that i've thought about it. i know that she'll have cute freckles like you, though." matt smiled a tired, joy-filled smile, closing his eyes and tilting his head. tom came up behind him and wrapped his arms around him, then kissed matt's temple. 

"she's gonna be the prettiest baby the world has ever seen," matt claimed, craning his neck to the back to give tom a kiss. 

"damn right," tom agreed, just before matt jumped, letting out a soft "oh!". tom started, ready to panic.

"what is it?" matt giggled, taking tom's hand and placing it on a specific spot on his round stomach. 

"she's kicking," he murmured, looking so happy and content with life. there was a moment of nothing, but then tom felt it, the little thumps against matt's skin. tom gave a disbelieving laugh, starting to feel giddy himself.

"she's amazing," he breathed, and matt hummed in response. 

"i love her so much."

"me too. she's already a wonderful daughter."

\---

the baby didn't come the day the day it was due. tom had spent the entire day on his toes, ready to whisk matt away to the hospital as soon as he was given the sign. edd was antsy, and matt was just plain tired. they played at least three rounds of old maid, three tense rounds of old maid at that. 

every move matt made sent tom springing to his feet, every heavy breath, every slight wince, every shift in posture. after asking matt if he needed anything for the fifth time, tom saw that his precious omega was getting more than a little frustrated. 

"i'm fine, tom," he stressed. he set his hand of cards down on the table to pinch the bridge of his nose, completely exposing his cards to everyone. tom could've sworn that edd snuck a peek at them.

"i just--" matt held up a finger to silence any other words. 

"shh, no, i get it. i'm okay right now though, alright? i promise i'll let you know if i need something, love." matt stood up from his chair, stretching. "now if you'll excuse me, i need to go pee." he softly caressed tom's cheek, then he shuffled out of the kitchen. tom heard edd laugh to himself, and he turned to look at him.

"what?" edd shook his head with a smile, setting his cards on the table face down. 

"oh, it's nothing. you've just changed since you've become his mate. you used to not have a heart whatsoever, and you were just such an ass to everyone." edd elbowed tom's arm playfully. "now you're actually... nice. it's really adorable to see you care for matt like this. you two are so cute." tom felt himself get a little defensive, though he wasn't sure why. 

"it's not like i try to be nice," he grumped. "it just happens." edd laughed again, rolling his eyes. 

"please. you and i both know it's true." edd then pointed at him, his smile transforming into a mischievous smirk. "you better marry him sooner rather than later. some little birdie told me that matt's getting impatient for some bling on his finger." edd singsonged the last part, wiggling the fingers on his left hand. tom stuck out his tongue.

"i know. i'm working on that." edd made this dramatic gasp, pressing his hand to his chest and scooting his chair back a couple inches. he let out a teasing "oh ho ho!", and tom shot him a glare that he only half meant.

\---

the baby did, in fact, come two days later. it had been around ten thirty in the morning on a saturday, everyone still waking up. edd was making waffles and tom was sitting at the kitchen table, sipping a steaming cup of coffee. suddenly, there was a loud thump from the far side of the house, accompanied by a yelp from matt. tom shared a frantic look with edd, matt releasing a loud cry of panic and discomfort. 

"my water broke!!" matt yelled, the tremble in his voice audible from across the house. all at once, nothing else mattered. the waffles in the toaster didn't matter, the hot coffee didn't matter, the fact that they were in their pajamas didn't matter. all edd and tom had to do was look at each other, and a thousand words were exchanged, and the both of them knew exactly what needed to be done. 

the car ride was hectic. all of tom's nerves were tingling, his grip on the steering wheel unhealthily tight. edd was in the backseat with matt, holding his hand and trying to guide him through proper breathing. matt sounded like he was being stabbed, his near-screams filling the whole car. tom let his gaze shoot from the road to the rearview mirror so he could see matt and edd behind him. 

"are you--" matt clenched his jaw, edd looking terribly unprepared for this on this particular morning. 

"just drive," math demanded. "just fucking drive!" tom quickly averted his gaze back to the road, the unsaid "yes, sir" hanging in the tense air. 

tom thanked all the gods that were out there because there was no traffic at this hour, though he almost did get pulled over for driving too fast. surely he had the right to drive like a madman. his boyfriend was technically giving birth in the backseat of his car. 

matt gave a wavering cry of "oooh my god", edd leaning as far forward as he could. 

"can you drive any faster?" he asked quickly, and tom just gestured at the speedometer and how the needle was somewhere between the 70 and the 80. they weren't even on the highway, so the speed he was driving was a little unjustified. matt released a particularly loud noise, his pretty face twisted up in an expression of pain. it hurt to see matt hurting like this, to hear matt whimpering pathetically in the backseat. tom eased his foot down on the gas pedal, speeding up as much as his common sense would let him as he followed the signs on the side of the road to the nearest hospital. 

everything happened so quickly. at one moment, tom was in the car, driving down the street at an ungodly speed, and at the next, tom was outside of matt's hospital room with edd, pacing nervously. he could hear matt's bloodcurdling screams of pain from the hall. he could hear the nurses saying "push!" and "you've got it! just a little more!". edd was sitting on a chair next to the door, his feet impatiently tapping on the floor.

they'd been out in the hall for almost two hours when tom stopped pacing back and forth, moving to the door. 

"that's it," he resolved. "i'm going in there." edd's head whipped up, his chocolate brown eyes surprised. 

"you sure?" tom nodded stiffly, and edd got up from his chair.

"i'll go in there with you." the both of them hesitated at the door for a fraction of a second before tom opened the door and walked into the hospital room. there were several nurses bustling about the room, all of them doing different things. 

when matt saw tom and edd enter the room, his exhausted face lit up in the midst of all of his intense discomfort. his bangs were clinging to his sweaty forehead, and he was gasping like he couldn't get a proper breath. matt waved tom over, and then notably winced.

there were tears on his cheeks, and when tom got over to him, matt seized his hand in a death grip. matt started to blubber nonsense intermingled with cries of pain, more tears coming.

"tom, it hurts so bad--" matt's words were cut off by a scream, tom's hand being squeezed so hard. one of the nurses rushed over to the end of the hospital bed, then quickly beckoned a couple more over. edd sidestepped out of their way, going to tom's side. 

"contractions are starting to get bad," a nurse with red hair said to another nurse. "the baby's coming real soon." tom turned to matt, his beautiful boyfriend, the father of his soon-to-arrive child.

"did you hear that?" he murmured to matt, carefully brushing his sweaty bangs off his face. "the baby's coming soon. just power through a little more, okay? you can do it." matt nodded quickly, too overcome with pain to properly respond. 

labor lasted another four hours. it was tedious, and also heartbreaking. it shattered tom's soul to see matt like this for six whole hours. tom and edd took turns sitting by matt's hospital bed and enduring matt's iron hand-holding grip as the omega fought his way through each round of contractions.

the doctor and the nurses went in and out of the room frequently, but when matt bit out a frantic "pippa's coming, she's coming, oh dear lord", everyone flooded into the room to assist. tom rushed to matt's side, edd looking around nervously as a least seven people came into the hospital room.

after a lot of screaming, careful guidance, and attempted soothing, a high pitched wail spilt the tension in the air. tom saw matt visibly melt with relief, and he released a sigh himself. 

"congratulations," the doctor said with a smile, handing the baby to a nearby nurse for her to clean up. "you've got a healthy baby girl." tom and matt locked eyes, matt having a smug smile on his face. the unsaid words of "i told you so" were hanging in the air between them. how matt had known that they were going to have a daughter, tom had no idea, but here they were, with a baby girl. 

the baby was carefully handed to matt, wrapped in a soft blanket and wearing a snug blue hat. matt's expression was so full of love, the baby slowly blinking up at him. 

"hello, pippa," matt whispered.

\---

pippa had a matching set of crystal blue eyes, just like matt. she had stray wispy hair that was almost the same shade as tom's and had the same tendency to stick up in all directions. she was the cutest, most perfect baby that had ever graced the face of the earth.

matt was so proud of pippa, even though she really didn't do anything except sleep and cry. she was kind of a fussy baby, but matt would rush to her rescue every time, making sure she had everything she needed.

from his spot on the couch, tom saw matt swiftly walk to the bowl next to the front door that had all the keys. 

"where are you going?" edd asked, his feet propped up on the coffee table. tom mumbled something that sort of echoed "yeah, where are you going" but not really. tom turned his head to see matt standing at the door, car keys in hand.

"pippa needs diapers, so i'm going to get diapers," he stated simply, turning on his heel to face tom and edd watching tv lazily on the couch. matt huffed cutely, planting his hands on his hips when neither of them responded. 

"you guys seem to forget that we have a baby in the house. you guys can take care of her too, you know."

"you're a good father, babe," tom said almost dismissively, not taking his eyes off the television. no one said anything for a moment, and, suddenly, matt sauntered over and plopped his entire weight onto tom's lap. tom gave startled noise, edd loudly protesting because some of the cola he'd been drinking had sloshed out of the can.

"wish i could say the same about you, daddy," matt teased to tom in a low voice, edd choking on cola. 

"fuckin' gross," edd grumbled, shrinking into his hoodie as matt leaned in and gave tom a big kiss on the lips. tom's hand found the space of matt's waist through the thin fabric of matt's shirt. matt giggled softly into the kiss, lingering just a moment longer before breaking away with that wet noise that kisses always seemed to make.

"please don't kill pippa while i'm gone, 'kay?" matt said, smacking another kiss onto tom's cheek. tom chuckled with a smile. 

"i won't."

pippa started wailing from the other room, and all three of them shared a look. edd stood up, looking grumpy.

"i've got it..." he muttered, shuffling out of the living room and into the hallway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you squint you can pinpoint the exact moment when i gave up on this lol. this has a halfassed editing job bc it's so long and i didn't want to read through it for the seven millionth time :)))))) i'll fix the remaining typos later gah
> 
> i think i'm going to resume working on fic requests now? i'm about to wrap up my vimlr fic so updates might come slow for this as i pay attention to my other fic oof :0


	46. crush

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is lowkey/highkey based off of a request by mega_ditto ((whom im,,, not sure even reads this anymore shfksbfjandbb)) but hey it's done and it's gay
> 
> high school au bc i'm ;))))

today was the day. today, tom was going to ask his crush out. he'd marked the day on his calendar and everything, since he had been planning this for more or less a month and a half. boy, was he nervous. he tried to give himself a pep talk in the mirror before the bus came by to pick him up, but he barely got a singular "you can do this" out when he saw how bad his acne was on this particular day. he pulled his bangs up to reveal a plethora of zits, and he groaned, quickly attempting to pray his pimples away. he gave up. the whole religion thing fit his mom better than it did him.

however, he could not back out! he had already devoted this day to asking out his perfect, amazing crush. as tom climbed into the school bus, he spotted him in the last seat to the right. matt hargroves, the most wonderful, attractive, flawless person to ever walk the face of the earth. tom nearly swooned in the middle of the aisle. matt was staring out the window, silently mouthing the lyrics to a song that was playing in his headphones. tom let himself sit as close to matt as his conscience would allow, which was three seats down and across the aisle. 

his face was warm, and he realized that he was blushing. damn. he hadn't even gotten to school yet, and he was already a mess. matt didn't even know tom existed, at least not beyond being lab partners in biology. the both of them weren't popular, so to speak, but matt was definitely more known than tom was, with his dorkily cute thick-rimmed glasses, his fantastic theater skills, and his very, very open bisexuality. tom was only known for his mouth full of metal and his tendency to sit with the emo kids at lunch. 

but miracles do happen, right? maybe some of tom's feelings would be returned? the thought of asking matt out made tom blush even more. he was going to do this. he had to do this. he had already written his note for matt telling him to meet him at the elementary school playground during lunch. all he had do was slip the note into matt's locker when they got to school, and things would run their course.

eventually, the bus rumbled up to the high school building. tom let matt leave the bus before him, as he always did, even though matt always sat in the very back, and he was rewarded by one of matt's charming soft smiles. the sight of it made his heart stutter in his chest, and he managed to offer a flustered smile back. tom had no idea how he was going to survive the day. 

as soon as tom walked into the school, he rushed to the boy's bathroom, mostly to gather his thoughts and stare at his blushing face in the dirty mirror. god, his acne really was gross today. why today, out of all days, had his body decided to be overly hormonal? it wasn't fair. matt's skin was so clear, aside from his splashes of freckles across his cheeks, nose, and ears. all of his freckles were perfect, like carefully placed angel kisses. tom could just stare at matt's stunning face for hours and hours and hours and--

the minute bell rang, making tom reluctantly come back to reality, the reality in which he was standing in front of the sink in the boy's bathroom. lame. he should probably get to algebra if he didn't want to be late. tom smiled weakly at himself in the mirror, then turned away, walking out of the bathroom.

matt's locker was on tom's way to algebra class. the halls were practically empty at this point, only a couple seconds left before any stragglers would be counted tardy. tom didn't much care anyway. he skipped class way too often for it to be good for his record. all class-skipping aside, matt's locker number was 263 and it was exactly 145 lockers away from tom's. tom knew exactly how many pictures matt had stuck onto his locker door of him and his various friends, most them from theater (there were eleven photos, all of them polaroid instants). the only reason why tom knew this was because he'd spent an embarrassing amount of time around matt's locker, attempting to work up enough courage to start an actual conversation with the single most amazing being on earth.

tom stood in front of matt's locker when he got to it, the tardy bell ringing obscenely. he reached into his backpack for the note he had written the previous day, gazing nervously at the folded up wide ruled lined paper. with a deep breath, he looked around, then quickly pressed the note into one of the locker's slots, hearing it hit the bottom of the locker. he exhaled shakily, mildly realizing that his face was on fire. 

phase one of operation: amo (ask matt out) was complete. now all tom had to do was wait until lunch. and probably rush over to algebra class.

\---

lunchtime came, and tom was a ball of shaky nerves. he'd left the school building as quickly as possible, then ran all the way over to the elementary school playground. as he searched for the empty playground for somewhere to sit and wait for matt, a thought occurred to him. what if matt didn't even bother to show up?

the thought made his insides turn to jelly. that would be terribly embarrassing. he plopped down on one of the swings, nervously wringing his hands. the butterflies in his stomach almost made him want to throw up. he didn't think he could do this. he was starting to majorly doubt himself. he swallowed, gazing around the still silent playground. 

he waited five minutes, and after those five minutes, he was still alone. he exhaled a shaky, disappointed breath. maybe matt wasn't coming after all. the whole situation devastated tom on the inside. ouch. this hurts. just as he was about to get up from the swing, a figure walked out from behind the elementary building. tom could spot the bright orange hair from where he was, and his heart soared with hope, though it made him super nervous. 

matt jogged over to the swing set, standing in front of him. a confused look settled onto his pretty face. 

"tom?" he said, adjusting his glasses. "what on earth do you want to talk about all the way over here?" the fact that matt remembered and knew his name made him blush for some reason. matt shrugged off his backpack, then sat down on the swing next to him. 

"i... um..." tom started, his heart beating a thousand miles per hour. man, he should've prepared a speech too. he was going to stutter his way through this whether he liked it or not. matt looked up at him expectantly, those crystal blue eyes searching.

"i know... you don't really know me? i... i mean, yeah, you do know me, but you don't know me know me, you know?" oh fuck. this was going terribly. matt's eyebrows raised, and he looked amused. 

"yeah, i guess," he replied. tom took a deep breath. he might as well just say it. there wasn't any point in making matt wait. matt saying no was becoming a more likely outcome the longer tom dragged this out. he pressed his lips together, looking at the mulch under them before looking back at matt's face. 

"i have a really huge crush on you," tom said as quickly as he could, feeling himself blush like an idiot. "you're really cool, and you're... cute, and i like the way you dress and the way you smile and... um..." the surprised look on matt's face made tom stop. a rather flattering pink blush tinted matt's cheeks and tom swore his heart skipped like three beats. tom smiled weakly, biting his lip. 

"um... i'd really like it if... if maybe we could... go out some time? t-to the movies? this weekend, maybe?" as if blushing wasn't enough, tom felt his palms start to get clammy. he'd done it. he'd asked matt out. all he had to do now was wait for matt to answer. tom heard matt chuckle, and he watched him brush some hair out of his face.

"okay," he said, smiling. "as long as you buy me popcorn." tom's eyes widened, and he blinked several times. 

"y-yes! of course i'll buy you popcorn. a-anything you want," tom stammered. wow. just looking at matt made him feel so happy and squishy inside. he probably was the most bi guy alive. 

matt smiled at him a little more, then closed his eyes, taking a deep breath of the cool breeze. he started to swing a little, swaying back and forth. the wind rustled his hair, and all tom really wanted to do was take so many photos of this precious boy and frame them all. he was so perfect. 

"you're cute when you blush," matt finally said, his eyes still closed. tom opened his mouth to respond, then closed it when he felt even more blush crawl up his neck. he stared at the red-brown mulch, the most flustered he could ever be. matt opened his sky blue eyes then, looking at tom. 

"we should probably get back," he stated, pausing before standing up. tom merely gazed at matt as he grabbed his bright purple backpack and put it on. matt held out his hand to him with a smile.

"c'mon. i'll let you hold my hand all the way back." if possible, tom flushed even more. his face most likely looked akin to a ripe strawberry. after a beat, he put his hand in matt's outstretched one. they fit snugly together, matt pulling him up from his seated position. 

off they went back to the school, blushing dorkily while holding hands. operation: amo had been a huge success.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they're such cuties i love them so much it's not even funny
> 
> oH I ALMOST FORGOT TO MENTION,, "amo" is a derivative of the portuguese word "amor" which means love!! just felt like that would be nice for you to know ;)


	47. dog

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUYS IM NOT DEAD I SWEAR LMAO !!!! life is actually a piece of shit lol so ive had a bad case of writers/artists/everything block but!!!
> 
> i’ve got this opposite day req for cavalrycat ;))) enjoy this tyvm

the house was quiet. edd was being his anxious ass self, all curled up in his bedroom, and tom was outside doing whatever the hell he liked to do outside. matt was just lying lazily on the couch, the tv being background noise. he was craving a slushie. maybe he could grab his skateboard and go over to the corner store a couple minutes away?

he popped a piece of bubble gum into his mouth, dismissing the thought. the corner store was too far away. just his fucking luck. edd's damned cat tried to crawl in between his legs, and matt growled at it, making the annoying fuzzball shrink away. he was right on the verge of murdering that stupid thing. it had clawed up way too many of his wooden baseball bats.

matt let out a bored groan, stretching out further on the couch. maybe he could... try to get tom to give him those soft little kisses that he liked. that would be kinda fun. it was always a pain in the ass to get tom to kiss him, but it often proved to be worth it in the end. tom always tasted like candy, pieces of that saltwater taffy that the brunette was addicted to.

matt then discovered that the door was a solid fifteen feet away, so that was lame. he really didn't feel like getting up from his spot. the couch was comfortable, and the murmur of the tv was making him sleepy. 

but tom. and kisses. taffy flavored kisses. the best kind of kisses.

he grumbled, flopping off the couch onto the carpet with a thump. he wanted to go outside for kisses, but... the door. it was so far away. maybe he could just wait for tom to come inside so he wouldn’t have to actually move. that’d be nice. 

matt waited for three minutes, at least four commercials playing on the tv. the house was too quiet. maybe he should check on edd? just to make sure he wasn’t dead or anything. and what was tom even doing outside? the silence was killing matt, his protective instinct going haywire.

out of nowhere, there was a shriek from outside. matt shot up, crossing the fifteen feet gap between him and the door in about four swift strides. he threw open the door, searching frantically for some sort of serial killer trying to murder his boyfriend. after a couple seconds of looking about, he heard tom’s sweet, tingling giggling. a little ways down the front path, he spotted tom toppled over on the concrete, a big, fluffy brown dog licking at his face. 

matt rushed over to him, tom giggling like a maniac. 

“what the fuck is going on here?” matt asked, pretending like he was irritated by this startlingly adorable display. tom managed to get the dog off of him, struggling to control his giggles as he wiped dog drool from his cheek. 

“can we keep her??” tom pleaded, smoothing the dog’s matted fur. matt wrinkled his nose, examining how... stray this dog looked. it was all fur and bones, big, sad eyes looking up at him. one eye was green, the other a dark hazel, and tom seemed to like that a lot, cooing at the dog and squeezing its face.

“she’s soooo cute!! i need to give her a bath and dress her up all nice!!” tom declared, beaming up at matt, who was trying his best to keep his mouth from cracking into a smile. “pleeease?? can we keep her, pleeeease?” matt crouched down next to tom, taking another look at the dog. he wasn’t even sure how tom could tell that it was a girl. wait. nevermind, he could.

“i don’t know,” he said apprehensively, watching tom’s bottom lip stick out in a pout. the dog started to nudge at tom’s soft, pastel pink sweater. the both of them were just too cute together. matt tried to think what edd would think about having a dog in addition to the currently residential feline.

“you should ask edd first,” matt then resolved, tom starting to sulk. the brunette folded his arms over his chest. edd always took absolutely forever to make decisions, weighing the pros and cons of each choice, and matt couldn’t help but sigh. tom perked up before matt even said anything, already anticipating his words. 

“fine,” matt relented, tom squealing with happiness. “just keep her under control, okay? she’s your dog now, and no one else is going to take care of her for you.”

“okay!!” tom exclaimed, giving the probably filthy dog a hug. “i promise!!” matt rolled his eyes. he had no idea what he was thinking. tom, of course, was going to get busy and forget to take care of this dog and he and edd would be forced to take care of it. this was going to be fun. 

“i love you! yes, i do! yes, i do!” tom murmured to the dog, making smoochy noises at it. matt’s heart melted. damn, it was hard to act tough around these two. they were just so pure. 

“i’m gonna name her...” tom tapped his chin in thought. he cocked his head, looking at matt. “i dunno! what should i name her, mattie?” there it was. the nickname.

“um..” matt looked at the dog, then looked back at the curious expression on tom’s face. “how about...” matt searched his mind furiously for a name, picking the first one that he thought of. “chloe?” tom lit up. 

“yes! that’s perfect!” he leaned up and smacked a quick kiss on matt’s cheek. matt smiled even though he didn’t mean to.

“i love you,” matt said softly, reaching over and lacing his hand with tom’s. tom grinned at him, ignoring the fact that matt barely ever said i love you and the fact that this was probably only the fourth time he’d ever said it. 

“i love you too!” tom replied cheerfully, chloe trotting over to matt and nuzzling his face. matt gave chloe a sideways look, but tom started to laugh. 

“look at that, mattie!! chloe loves you too!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> opp day!tom is my whole world
> 
> im currently workin on other reqs now! since my other work is finished,, i’ll hopefully have more updates for this,,, hopefully,,,


	48. camera

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> high school au once again <3 these two are my loves i hope you love them as much as i do ok i really do hope so

tom’s mom had gotten him a camera for his birthday. at first, he wasn’t sure why he really needed a camera; he did have a phone after all. his mom had just smiled at him, pushing a package of reusable batteries across the dining room table to him. 

“it’ll help you express yourself,” she explained, tapping a perfectly manicured finger on her temple. “it’s so you don’t keep everything up in that brain of yours.” tom had simply squinted at her, looking over the shiny, new camera with a tad bit of disappointment. he’d wanted a set a new guitar picks so he could look even cooler when he played susan, but he guessed that he might as well be grateful for this relatively expensive-looking camera. 

for the first couple of days after his birthday, tom left the camera on top of his dresser. he really didn’t have any use for it, but every time he would pass by it, it seemed to be beckoning him to press all of its fancy buttons. being as stubborn as he was, tom threw a dirty sweater over it so he wouldn’t have to look at it. 

almost a week after, tom rediscovered that he owned this particular object while cleaning his room, as per his mother’s request. the camera glinted seductively at him, and he sighed, taking it off the dresser and turning it over in his hands. after a pause, he turned it on, the camera blinking to life as the lense auto-adjusted. tom ran his fingers along the array of buttons to the side of the display. he pressed one experimentally, the display going dark and another tinier display by the fancy flash thing lighting up. 

tom peered into this tiny display, closing one eye as he gazed upon a clear image of his messy bedroom. this was actually kind of cool, he had to admit. the lazy sunbeams from his window cast elaborate shadows on his dusty, footprint-ridden wood floor. tom messed with the zoom a little bit, then hovered his finger over the shutter. he pressed down, the camera giving a faint click. tom pulled back to look at his captured image pop up briefly on the big display. it was... kind of nice. he felt artistic.

he took a couple more pictures, this time of susan and tomee bear. he felt a little nerdy, bending and crouching and moving about to get the best shots of his subjects. this camera made his heart flutter weirdly in his chest. it was almost satisfying to review his newfound photos. he bit back a smile. his mom always knew how to please him. 

photography slowly became tom’s new obsession. he took rachel, his new name for his camera, almost everywhere, scoping out potential pictures. he took pictures of flowers, empty streets at night, the stars, toddlers on the park’s swing set, melting ice cream... just about everything, and it was great. photography was pretty awesome. 

one day, his mom asked him if he could take pictures of her. this came as a surprise to him, because he’d never photographed someone that was fully aware that they were being photographed before. he said sure, why not, and they drove out to a grassy field a little ways away from their house and had a quaint picnic. tom got a lot of great shots, most of them being his mom looking out at the landscape with that gorgeous slight smile of hers. the way the sun filtered through her delicately braided black hair was stunning. everything around them complimented her, and it was in that moment that he realized how much he loved his mom. 

he thought that he loved his mom more than anything in the world, but then he started dating matt. he’d never dated a boy before, his bisexuality a murky pool of uncharted waters, but he honestly didn’t care whether matt was a boy, or a girl, or anything in between. he was absolutely perfect, with his eyes, and his freckles, and his hair, and his smile—

the very first thing tom wanted to do with matt was take pictures of him. that and kiss him, but that particular activity was reserved for a certain unknown time and a certain unknown place. tom had been all flustered and nervous the first time he asked matt if they could go and take pictures somewhere after school. 

“like... the park. o-or my backyard,” tom hurriedly added, watching matt put away his textbooks in his locker. when he was finished, he closed his locker, adjusted his glasses, and smiled. 

“your backyard sounds nice,” he replied. matt had a way of stressing his o’s and u’s and tom loved that with every piece of himself. he didn’t think that he loved the way anyone spoke more than how much he loved the way matt spoke.

“um, okay!” tom said, blood rushing to his cheeks when matt grabbed his hand and intertwined their fingers. tom still wasn’t used to physical affection, especially with someone of the same gender, and out in public at school. matt was very affectionate, loving to hug and hold hands and cuddle all the time, and he was super open with his sexuality, so he didn’t much care what people thought.

they made their way to the bus, matt swinging their hands in between them. tom could feel the other kids staring at them, and it made him feel something like embarrassment. there really wasn’t anything he could do about it. if he let go, he’d imagine that matt would get upset, and the other kids would have still seen the two of them holding hands. he might as well deal with the staring. 

they got off the bus at tom’s house, matt stopping to text his parents about where he was at. tom’s mom car was at the curb, and he realized with a heated flush that she’d never met matt before. she didn’t even know he was bi. 

“fuck!” tom swore, running his hands through his hair. matt looked up from his phone, quickly coming to tom’s side and putting a hand on his back. 

“what’s wrong, love?” he murmured, rubbing tom’s back carefully. tom gestured to the front door a few feet away.

“my mom.. i haven’t come out to her.” to tom’s surprise, matt smiled. he put his phone in his pocket and offered his hand for tom to take. tom settled his hand in matt’s after a beat, matt squeezing his hand encouragingly. 

“it’ll be fine, okay? just walk right up to her and tell her.” matt’s fingers on his free hand reached over and brushed some hair out of tom’s face, his fingertips lingering just a moment too long. tom took a deep breath, and they both walked into the house. 

tom’s mom was sitting in a lounge chair in the living room, reading a book. she looked up from her book when she heard the front door open and close. it was silent, and matt had to gently coax tom to move closer to her. tom could see her examining him, then examining matt, and finally examining their joined hands. 

“hello, tommy,” was all his mom said, her eyebrows raising with amusement. tom’s mouth went dry, matt nudging him. 

“h-hey,” tom responded before gesturing to matt. “this is... matt.” there was a silence, and tom quickly tacked on: “my boyfriend.” matt waved brightly. 

“hi!” tom’s mom smiled, and she nodded as she took it all in. tom was expecting so much more from her, but she appeared to be completely okay with what was happening. 

“we were going to take pictures in the backyard if that’s fine,” tom said then, shifting his weight to his other foot awkwardly. his mom nodded again. 

“yup,” she chirped, returning to her book. “that’s fine. have fun, boys. don’t take too many scandalous photos.” and that was that. surprisingly. matt had to drag tom away, tom being rendered speechless. 

a little while later, tom led matt out into the backyard, rachel around his neck. matt immediately settled into the tired swing under the big tree. the afternoon sun was perfect for taking pictures, and tom got a couple test shots of his mom’s garden to make sure everything was okay. 

when tom looked back at matt, he had stripped himself of his purple jacket, sitting there in a dark red t-shirt. matt’s freckled arms were just... amazing, and tom couldn’t help but take a picture of matt’s hand around the rope of the tire swing. matt’s other hand was tracing the knots and groves of the tree trunk. the whole image was flawless.

“hey,” tom called from behind rachel. matt turned to look at him, tom snapping a picture right then. jesus fuck. matt was the perfect model. he thought his mom had been great. matt blew his mind.

matt’s fingers went to the frames of his glasses, tom trying to take as many pictures as possible. 

“do you want me to move?” matt asked when tom came a little closer. 

“n...no, no. it’s perfect. you’re perfect.” the words made matt blush just a little, and tom nearly had a stroke. matt then looked down at the grass, teasing his bottom lip without thinking. fuck??? these pictures were going to turn out so well?? every shift, every move matt made was perfect. tom’s finger was working the shutter button faster than sonic the fucking hedgehog.

at one point, tom had to put his camera down and just stare at matt and how amazing he was. matt noticed him looking, scooting over as much as he could so he could pat the space next to him on the tire swing. tom smiled, then sat down next to matt. 

“do you wanna see the pictures?” tom asked, matt lighting up excitedly. he nodded, and tom took rachel from around his neck and handed her to him. matt blinked at all the buttons, and tom chuckled, leaning over and pressing one to take them to the gallery of photos. matt made a soft “oh” as he began to click through all the pictures.

“you’re really good with the camera,” tom hummed, watching matt examine the picture of his hand on the rope of the tire swing. “very photogenic.” matt smiled, and tom’s heart went insane. 

“is it okay if i look at your other pictures?” matt asked, turning just slightly to look at tom. tom didn’t register the words at first, lost in matt’s blue eyes behind those adorable purple glasses. 

“oh, um, sure,” tom replied after a beat when he finally realized what matt had said. it was quiet, save for the breeze of the wind through the tree and the birds chirping. matt clicked through all of tom’s photos from this month, pausing at a lot of them. when he got to the pictures of tom’s mom, he actually let out a little gasp. 

“you’re so talented,” matt claimed, making tom blush. “your mom is gorgeous. these pictures are gorgeous.”

“you’re gorgeous,” tom murmured before he could stop himself. he carefully reached up and tucked some hair behind matt’s ear. matt looked like he was fumbling for words to say, his cheeks tinting. it was absolutely precious. tom’s fingers lingered just by matt’s ear, the air between them hot. 

matt pressed his lips together, then undid the action. tom dared to cup matt’s soft, freckled cheek with his lingering hand, matt lazily gazing between tom’s eyes and his mouth. tom leaned in a little closer. when matt didn’t protest in any way, tom squeezed his eyes shut and kissed him. matt kissed him back almost immediately, his arms drifting up to wrap around tom’s neck.

matt was a fantastic kisser, no questions asked. he tasted like... grape juice. it was delicious. matt was delicious. the tire swing creaked, and tom could feel the weight of rachel in matt’s hands. matt moved as close as he could to tom, their chest grazing each other. 

they broke away, matt shakily taking in a breath. without thinking, tom started to nuzzle matt’s neck, brushing careful kisses on the ginger’s skin. matt hummed softly, tilting his head. he mumbled something that tom couldn’t make out, his words being carried away in the gentle breeze. somehow, they started kissing again, their tongues tripping over each other. 

“those are some nice pictures you’re taking!” called the voice of tom’s mom from the direction of the patio. tom and matt quickly disconnected their faces to stare at tom’s mom smiling coyly in the middle of the back door. she set a bowl of chips on the metal patio table nearby and made this face that was the very personification of “owo what’s this”. she slipped back inside the house after a moment, leaving tom and matt there on the tire swing with scarlet faces. 

“is she always like that?” matt finally asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALSO I LOVE TOM’S MOM
> 
> this might be asking too much but if y’all ever draw fanart of these gay ass things that i write or something,, then don’t be afraid to tag me on insta with @doodle.mp4 oof that’d be so nice of you
> 
> ok bye


	49. skirts and songs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> high school au
> 
> bc i suck lol

matt awoke groggily, his limbs tangled together with the limbs of the boy next to him. he groaned, sleepily reaching up and readjusting his glasses so they weren’t painfully digging into the side of his face. he detached his arms from the torso of this other boy. after a second, matt realized that this “other boy” was tom. he could tell by the way he breathed. 

turning, matt examined his surroundings and current state. his head was pounding, they seemed to be sleeping on the couch in tom’s living room, and the living room was a complete disaster. there was food everywhere, glass bottles and coke cans littered the floor alongside random articles of clothing here and there. 

matt carefully removed tom’s arms from his chest before sitting up. dizziness swarmed into his senses, and for a moment he felt like he was upside down. his hand went to his... shirt? it was so thin and sheer that matt wasn’t even sure it was a shirt. it was a shiny tint of soft pink, the straps hanging by his shoulders. there was a splotchy-splattery system of stains in the middle of the fabric. odd. 

hold on. there was way too much air on his legs. he looked down and grimaced. goddamnit. he was wearing a skirt, a short, pink and white plaid skirt to be exact. they’d done it again, hadn’t they? this chain of events was starting to become a trend. whenever a sleepover at tom’s place and alcohol were combined, the results were never good. despite the fact that this was the first time matt had woken up wearing a skirt, this sort of thing happened way too often. 

when trying to recall the memories of the night before, matt was greeted with fuzzy thoughts and stray bits of faint conversation. it was probably best that he didn’t think about it though. his headache was killing him. matt sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, tom stirring just slightly next to him. matt silently observed that his boyfriend was bare, besides a pair of sloppily donned boxer shorts.

there was a moment of quiet, tom sliding his hand up matt’s right leg. he stopped just below the hem of the skirt, matt reaching over and running his fingers through tom’s unkempt hair. 

“morning, handsome,” tom murmured, pressing a kiss to matt’s hipbone. matt’s heart fluttered. that was the most romantic kiss-to-the-hip ever.

“morning, lover boy,” matt couldn’t help but coo back. tom smiled, his dark blue braces flashing for a second. his fingers danced across the landscape that was matt’s thigh. matt’s headache dulled a little, still there, but not as brain-rattling.

“nice choice of attire,” tom said cheekily, his eyes like endless voids of starless night sky. “the splatters of cum stains suit you well.” matt snorted with laughter, his face heating up nonetheless. he stuck out his tongue and wrinkled his nose.

“it’s your fault that they’re there,” he teased. amused, tom’s eyebrows raised and he sat up. matt’s eyes wandered to tom’s skinny, untoned teenage body. he really didn’t need one of those athletic, buff poster boyfriends when he had tom. he never thought that he’d find such a skinny body so attractive.

“hey,” tom mumbled, his nose close to matt’s all of a sudden. “stop undressing me with your eyes.” matt cracked a smile, tom’s hand coming up from matt’s thigh to cup his cheek. their lips brushed, a soft kiss emerging. it was gentle and sweet, as morning after kisses should be. kissing tom was lovely. he could kiss him all day, every day if he was allowed. 

tom broke away, but not before planting a small kiss on matt’s nose. matt made a noise that resembled a giggle and curled into tom’s side. tom’s arms wrapped around him. 

“i wrote you a song,” tom said after a brief moment of silence. matt smiled, his eyes closed. 

“yeah? what’s it called?” the fingers on tom’s left hand started to play with the thin fabric of matt’s shirt. 

“it’s called ‘we should totally get married someday’.” matt turned to look at tom, grinning. tom grinned back. 

“no way,” matt replied. “that’s not what it’s called.” tom nodded, appearing amused at the fact that matt didn’t believe him. he made a little x on the left side of his chest. 

“no, i swear. that’s what it’s called.” matt have a good natured eye roll, snuggling further into tom. 

“you should play it for me,” he mumbled gently, feeling soft and squishy inside. tom seemed to have that effect on him. tom shifted just a tad, resting his chin on matt’s exposed shoulder.

“susan’s upstairs. if you want, we can go upstairs, and i’ll play it for you.” matt considered these words before shaking his head a little.

“i think i want to stay down here with you. it’s comfy and i don’t wanna move. you’re a nice pillow.” matt paused for a second. “sing me the words?” tom chuckled softly, turning and pressing a small kiss on the corner of matt’s mouth. he took a breath, then another, then started to quietly sing. 

“i think i’m in love with you, there’s nothing that i wouldn’t do to see you smile. i love your hair, i love your eyes, i want to hear you laugh for a while. 

“maybe we should run away, but we should totally get married someday. it doesn’t matter what they’ll say, we should totally get married someday.” tom continued to sing cheesy lyrics in his perfectly imperfect voice. matt was melting. oh no, he was so in love with this dork.

as tom softly sang about counting matt’s freckles like stars in the night sky, matt closed his eyes. he’d love to marry tom. there was absolutely no way he wouldn’t. waking up to tom’s face every morning would be wonderful. just thinking about it made the butterflies in his stomach go crazy. 

tom sang the ending note to his little song, a small silence following. 

“so... what do you think?” he asked tentatively. matt turned so they were facing each other. he cupped tom’s face in his hands and pressed a noisy kiss to tom’s lips.

“i love it,” he gushed, his mood soaring when tom lit up. “you know what else i love?” matt didn’t give tom a chance to answer, kissing him again. 

“you,” he murmured. “i love you, more than anything in the world.” tom actually blushed, an adorable smile on his lips. he reached up and tucked some hair behind matt’s ear. did matt ever say that he loved it when tom did that? well, he did. 

“i love you too,” tom said, gazing at him in the most adoring way possible. “i can’t wait to get married to you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> actually exhausted with life right now oof :)))))) need more tomatt fluff to function properly :))))))
> 
> i’m rlly considering writing the entirety of “we should totally get married someday” and play it on the ukulele and post it somwhere bc that would actually be really cool ngl


	50. bite me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW CHAPTER 50 IM CRYING IN THE CLUB WHY DO I KEEP UPDATING THIS WORK RNSBFSND

tom was so frustrating. he managed to make everything serious a joke, and matt really wasn’t having any of it. he was barely able to do something, or go somewhere, or basically speak without tom making some sort of stupid comment. he guessed that he deserved it, though. he was the one who spent more time fixing his hair in the morning than actually doing anything else.

today, they were arguing. it wasn’t a big argument or anything, but, still, they were arguing, which was a rarity. they barely ever argued about things, the both of them pretty agreeable with each other, but sometimes when tom was drunk, things that didn’t often happen happened. 

“you need to stop drinking,” matt had said dismissively when he walked into the bathroom to see tom curled up in the bathtub, thus starting the argument without realizing it. he sort of stared at tom’s position in the tub, reaching down and swiftly confiscating tom’s flask. it looked a little painful, but tom wasn’t complaining.

when matt started to pour the contents of the flask down the bathroom sink, tom made this upset growl at him. matt set the empty flask on the product-covered counter and put his hands on his hips when he turned to face tom. 

“this isn’t okay,” he said, frowning, and then realizing he was frowning, settling for a neutral expression. frowning equals wrinkles. no thanks. “this isn’t healthy, tom. not for you, and not for anyone else.” if tom’s eyes weren’t deep pits of void, he probably would have rolled them.

“bitch pl’se,” was all tom replied with. matt couldn’t help but frown even though he tried his best not to.

“you know i hate it when you’re like this. why do you keep doing it? even when you know?” tom looked up at the dingy off-white ceiling, his mouth set in a thin line. matt sighed with relative exasperation, making his way to the door, picking up the empty flask so he could go hide it somewhere while he was at it.

“don’ fuckin’ walk away,” tom clipped irritably. matt folded his arms over his chest, turning back to the bathtub.

“what the heck am i supposed to say to you right now?” he snapped without meaning to. he saw tom’s jaw clench just barely. “this is all i ever come home to anymore, tom! i’m actually starting to get pretty sick of it. you’re never sober.” matt huffed, casting his eyes up before returning them to tom’s figure.

“i mean, you are sober sometimes, but that’s only when you’re at work. at least i hope so.” they stared at each other then, tom moving a little in the cramped tub.

“i don’t fffuckin’ know wh’ you wan’ me t’ do,” tom replied with, sitting up with no little effort. tom’s hand gripped the side of the tub, and matt noticed sloppy black color on (and around) tom’s fingernails. by the looks of them, tom probably was scribbling all over his nails with a black sharpie prior to this conversation.

“jesus, you know exactly what i want you to do,” matt countered, trying his best to not get really pissed with how things were going at this moment. “i want you to stop. is it really that hard? if not for me, then do it for you. you’re gonna end up drinking yourself to death.” tom made a noise that was upsettingly similar to a scoff.

“what if tha’s th’ point?” matt glared at the brunette, shifting his weight to his other foot. it was quiet, the kind of quiet that was tense, like the kind of quiet you experience between an angry mother and a rebellious teenager. slowly, matt exhaled an exasperated breath. tom looked at him with this expression of smug indignation.

“you know what, tom?” matt spat before he could stop himself. “bite me. fucking bite me.” tom’s eyebrows raised, and, if anything, he seemed to be pleased with matt’s reaction.

“oh, damn,” he teased, sticking out his tongue. “if tha’s wh’ you wan’, jus’ tell me where, babe.” matt groaned loudly, his arms flopping to his sides. tom actually giggled from his spot in the bathtub. now this was what matt was talking about. why did tom have to be so frustrating? like, god damn. matt felt a giggle of his own threaten to burble up, and he futilely attempted to mask his amusement with a pathetic frown.

“we,” matt started, pointing at tom while trying to keep a smile off his face. “are not done with this talk. get yourself out of that bathtub, love. let me go get you a glass of water.” tom wrinkled his nose at the words as matt hovered in the bathroom’s doorway. before he left the bathroom, matt turned his head to look at tom all but mischievously.

“maybe if you’re good, i’ll let you pick a place to bite me, hmm?” tom snorted, matt gliding out of the bathroom to go to the kitchen. 

that conversation certainly could have gone better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YO IM NOT DEAD SADLJKHGSKJHSALDFKJ SO SORRY SALJKFHGDF THIS IS REALLY SHORT AND DOESNT FORGIVE MY ABSENCE BUT ASLFKJDG--
> 
> im thinking abt starting another work tho !!!! one in which matt is a prince, and he falls for his guard knight even tho he's in an arranged marriage uwu,,,,, i think it's gonna be exciting aaaa but i havent actually written anything yet asjkhgdlkf. im still tryna think of a title lol
> 
> so yeah !! im working on requests and other thingos. it might take me a while to get to reqs bc of this new work & also bc i've got a huge list of oneshot ideas askjlgdk
> 
> alright ok bye


	51. movies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> g o d i love them so much

“let’s go to the movie theater,” matt randomly said one day, stirring tom from his half-asleep state on matt’s lap. he blinked slowly, then yawned a little, matt’s fingers playing with his hair. 

“what?” tom asked, not sure if he heard matt correctly. matt smiled down at him, his eyes blue and shiny and like deep ocean tides. he barely heard matt repeat himself because he was so lost in those eyes. 

“sorry, i’m not paying attention to what you’re saying,” he admitted. “i’m so distracted by your gorgeous face.” matt’s face broke into a smile, and he tucked some hair behind his ear. tom sat up and stretched, then rubbed his eyes. 

“so do you want to go to the movies? i think it’ll be fun,” matt said, drawing his legs up onto the couch now that tom’s head wasn’t on his lap. tom thought about this for about a millisecond, putting his hands in his hoodie pocket. 

“sure. i don’t really care,” he responded. “as long as you’re happy.” matt made this “awwww”, adopting that voice that people use to talk to babies or small animals. 

“you actuwawy care if i’m happy, twommy?” he cooed, making grabby hands at tom. tom snorted, letting matt smack a loud kiss on his cheek before getting up from the couch. 

“i’m gonna get ready to go, m’kay? sit tight. i’ll only be a minute,” matt informed him, promptly bouncing out of the living room afterwards. tom watched him go and silently acknowledged that they were probably going to be at home for another hour. if tom knew matt at all, there was no such thing as “only being a minute”.

about forty five minutes later, tom heard matt come down the stairs. tom had turned the tv on out of boredom and was watching some sort of drama sitcom in which there was an elaborate web of infidelity and lies. at least that’s what he was getting from the first fifteen minutes of the show. 

matt stood by the couch expectantly, waiting for tom to notice him. tom pretended to not see matt at all, but he couldn’t help but smile when matt made a fussy noise that screamed “notice me; i look really good right now”. tom turned his head to examine matt briefly, giving a single nod of approval. matt wrinkled his nose delicately. 

“say something nice,” he implored, slouching just a little. “i look pretty fabulous and it’d be nice if you’d agree.” tom breathed an amused breath, looking back at matt to look over his outfit again. he wasn’t really sure what matt was expecting. he looked fabulous all the time, even though tom didn’t often say. 

it was starting to get a little chilly out, so matt was wearing a long, fuzzy pink sweater and some grayish jeans with careful frays and rips all about them. those were probably tom’s jeans, but he decided to restrain from commenting on that fact. moderately dirty black converse topped off the whole outfit, and if tom squinted, he could pick out a thin line of eyeliner around matt’s eyes. 

all in all, matt did look fabulous. no doubt about it. 

“you look fine,” tom settled with saying, layering his true words with fabricated apathy. matt frowned ever so slightly. he was used to getting this response.

“so are we going, or are you going to watch this tv show for the rest of the afternoon?” matt huffed, folding his arms over his chest. tom stood up. 

“right,” he said slowly. “you took so long that i almost forgot we were supposed to be leaving.” matt punched tom’s arm, but it was more like a playful swat. tom honestly didn’t think that matt was even able to physically hurt anyone. 

“okay, let’s go,” tom concluded, reaching for matt’s surprisingly cold hand and intertwining their fingers. matt bumped shoulders with him after turning off the tv. he squeezed tom’s hand, and tom squeezed back.

——

the movie theater was pretty empty, probably because it was a tuesday afternoon. no one really goes to the movies on a tuesday afternoon. tom let matt pick a movie, and he picked a drama that was sounded startlingly similar to the sitcom tom had been watching earlier. tom didn’t protest, just buying a large bag of popcorn and some fountain drinks (a root beer for him and a pink lemonade for matt).

they made their way to theater six and settled into a row of seats in the middle of the room. there were two or three other groups of people in the theater, but it was mostly empty. the row that matt had chosen to sit in was entirely devoid of people besides the two of them. tom watched matt curl his feet up into the chair as the previews started to play, the lights dimming.

the movie was fine, it being a little too melodramatic for tom’s taste. matt seemed to be enthralled by it, though, so that was a plus. matt had taken his shoes off, and was sitting in the seat with his knees to his chest, his socked toes wiggling. 

at one point in the movie, matt went to grab a handful of popcorn at the same time tom did, their hands awkwardly tangling in the half-full paper bag.

“sorry,” tom mumbled softly, turning his head to look at matt in the dark. blinking, he realized that matt’s face was merely a couple inches away from his. they were close enough that tom could feel matt’s warm breath on his face. 

“it’s okay,” matt said quietly. even in the dim light, tom could see matt’s eyes wandering ever so slightly. tom leaned in carefully, their lips just grazing. he could taste the salt and butter on matt’s lips. matt shifted in his seat, the movie only background noise now. 

tom’s hand found matt’s sweater-covered shoulder, and matt was making the kiss hotter and sloppier than it needed to be. tom wasn’t complaining, though. matt’s fingers were in his hair, tom’s tongue was in matt’s mouth and tom could faintly taste the lemonade matt had been drinking.

tom heard matt make this soft noise into the kiss, and he broke the kiss for a moment. matt gazed at him, and tom gazed back, their breathing heavy.

this vaguely reminded him of the first time he’d ever gone to the movies with matt, back in high school. things had played out almost exactly like this, except that there were a lot more people in the theater, and edd had been there, so it was more than a little awkward when they realized that they weren’t alone.

“do you remember that time—“

“yeah, i do,” matt interrupted gently, his mouth tugging upwards. “edd was there, wasn’t he?” tom chuckled and nodded, slipping his hand from matt’s shoulder. they assumed their previous positions, the both of them realizing that, yes, there was a movie still playing.

at some point after this, matt had started holding tom’s hand. this time, his hand was warm, and his fingers delicately slipped into the spaces where they were meant to be. tom’s heart was warm too, fuzzy feelings filling his whole body like he was sitting in front of a fireplace, except matt was his fireplace this time.


	52. school

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> smh i’ve been working on this for the longest time and it’s not even that good oof
> 
> this was a request for pineapple_pissbaby uwu,, it’s that au where edd is the smol child of tom & matt dbsndn
> 
> disclaimer that this isn’t edited bc i’m actually a lazy shit

edd came running up the sidewalk, nearly tripping over his feet. matt could already see from the window that he was crying, and he rushed over to the front door to see what the problem was. as soon as he opened the door, edd tumbled inside, burying his face in matt’s abdomen. matt was quick to kneel down and console his son. 

“aw, baby, what’s wrong?” matt murmured. edd’s tears and snot were starting to soak through his shirt, which was less than preferable, but there was only so much he could do about it. 

“were the other kids teasing you again?” matt ventured, edd nodding into his shoulder. edd pulled away from matt, wiping his face with his green hoodie sleeve. he gave a little hiccup, his chin still quivering. 

“the teacher asked me to tell everyone about my mom, and i started talking about you and she told me i was confused!! but i wasn’t!” edd informed, folding his arms over his chest. “everyone was being mean to me on the bus, and they called you and papa something that i didn’t understand. somethin’ that started with an f? i don’t remember.” matt pressed his lips together, nodding once as he brushed edd’s hair away from his eyes. 

“it’s better that you don’t remember, honey,” matt replied, making a mental note to get edd a haircut. edd harrumphed, his face set in a sulk. 

“i think i hate school!!” he exclaimed with a sniff. matt got up and took edd’s hand, leading him to the kitchen. 

“don’t say that,” matt chided, watching edd take off his backpack and climb into his chair at the kitchen table. “it’s only the first week.” he went to the counter by the fridge, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl. edd continued to whine on and on about how awful school was and how he disliked all the other kids as matt pulled out a cutting board and a knife to slice up the apple. 

edd was still complaining when matt handed him a small plate of apple slices. edd frowned at the apples, then angrily shoved one in his mouth. amused, matt ruffled edd’s hair, told him to chew and swallow, and left the kitchen.

edd wasn’t any more agreeable when tom came home from work. if anything, he was even more upset with school. matt tried to get him to do his homework, but he flatly refused to do it. matt even tried bribing him with bacon, but edd would not budge.

tom was in the living room reading a book when matt walked in. reading had become one of tom’s hobbies, and matt still wasn’t used to it. he guessed that it was better than tom drinking himself into unconsciousness. they had a kid now. he couldn’t just do that anymore. 

matt perched himself on the armrest of tom’s chair, putting an arm around tom’s shoulders. tom looked up at him before setting down his book.

“tell your son to do his homework,” matt whined. tom chuckled, his eyebrows raising.

“well, hello to you too,” tom replied. matt gave a good natured eye roll. 

“yes, hello, how are you, i hope you’re doing well.” tom leaned over and softly kissed the corner of matt’s mouth. 

“what about edd and his homework?” he asked then, making matt groan irritably. 

“he had a bad day at school—”

“like he’s been having all week?” tom interrupted. matt shrugged. tom was more or less correct. everyday for the past week, edd had walked up to the front door crying, upset, or both. matt was confident that it was going to get better for him, but for now edd was having a really bad time in school. 

“i’m telling you, just take the kid out of school. we could put him in one of those... online school things or something.” matt frowned a little at tom’s words and he folded his arms across his chest. 

“i mean, i guess we could, but i don’t want him to be a complete loner. and i hear that staring at a computer all day screws with your eyes,” he said, shrugging again. “i don’t know. i just want him to be happy.” tom smiled a little. 

“me too,” tom agreed, then patted matt’s knee. “come on. let’s go help him with his homework.” matt placed a small kiss on tom’s forehead, and the both of them got up to walk in the direction of edd’s room, where he was probably sulking and playing his super old gameboy color. 

edd was indeed playing his gameboy color while sitting on his bed when matt cautiously peeked into his room. 

“hey sweetie? can papa and i come in?” edd didn’t look up from whatever he was playing, just shrugging a little with indifference. matt shared a brief look with tom, then they walked inside edd’s moderately clean bedroom. matt sat down on one side of edd’s bed, and tom sat down on the other.

it was quiet for a little while, save for the tinny music coming from the gameboy’s minuscule speakers. edd was probably playing... legend of zelda if matt was hearing the audio correctly.

“why do the other kids not like me because i have two dads?” edd finally asked, still not looking up from his game. matt exhaled a slow breath. how was he supposed to answer this?

“i don’t know, honey,” matt settled with saying, urgently looking at tom with an expression of “help me out here”. tom just looked back at him blankly. a few more quiet moments passed, and edd set his gameboy down on his lap. he looked at the both of them. 

“why don’t i have a mom?” wow, okay. edd was asking all the hard questions now. it was tom’s turn to exhale slowly. matt watched him stare at the ceiling for a couple seconds before returning his gaze back to edd.

“edd, daddy and i aren’t like the other parents of the kids at school,” tom started, smiling faintly at matt and taking his hand. matt smiled a little too and squeezed tom’s hand.

“everybody else probably has a mommy and a daddy, but it just so happens that you have two dads, but that’s the only difference. we still love you just as much as all the other parents love their kids, maybe even more.” to reached out and pinched edd’s nose, making edd giggle and swat tom away. 

“in the end, it really doesn’t matter who your parents are, okay kiddo? it matters about what’s in here.” tom tapped his chest, nodding once. matt tried to hide a smile. tom was actually a good parent when he wanted to be.

edd grinned a toothy grin, seemingly in a much happier mood now. he scooted over and hugged the both of them with his tiny arms, his face nestled in the front of matt’s shirt. 

the next afternoon, edd came home from school, the happiest he’d been all week long. when matt asked what had made him so cheerful, edd smiled widely, showing that gap where his front teeth should’ve been.

“i made a friend!!” he exclaimed after he had slurped down his glass of milk and promptly wiped his mouth with his sleeve. matt smiled slightly, sitting down in the chair next to edd. 

“yeah?” edd nodded vigorously.

“yeah!! his name is tord!! he’s from... norway, i think!! and guess what!!” matt raised his eyebrows, settling his chin in his palm. 

“tell me what, baby.” edd sucked in an excited breath, overflowing with all of these positive emotions. it was too cute. 

“he has two dads like me!!” edd declared, his eyes lighting up. “we’re technically the same person!!” edd butchered the pronunciation of “technically”, but it was a valiant effort. matt smiled again, wider this time. 

“that’s wonderful, sweetie,” he said, brushing edd’s too long bangs out of his sparkling eyes. did he forget to take edd for a haircut? yeah, he forgot, didn’t he? “i can’t wait to meet him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gosh i swear i’m not dead and that i actually write stuff for this collection ehdjaja
> 
> also hi i got eddsworld amino so if u wanna hit me up or smth,, i’m ppastel.doodle on there owo [eyes emoji]


	53. umbrella

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> weird different writing style than usual ???? i felt like this needed a different feel to it,, if u know what i mean
> 
> some weird au too idk man
> 
> not edited bc im a bad student and im writing fanfiction instead of doing schoolwork

the bus was late. it was raining. tom had forgotten his umbrella in his flat. the wind was chilly, blowing cold air and leaves in every direction. tom’s nose was red. he was standing in a puddle, much to his dismay.

the little covered area where people sit to wait for the bus was crammed with people rushing to get out of the rain. assuming it to be futile to try and shove himself into that space too, tom continued to stand out in the rain. drops of water streamed down his face like tears. he was the only one standing out in the rain.

something colorful caught his eye, and tom turned to examine it. he squinted to his right, someone carrying a bright purple umbrella as they trotted over to the bus stop. tom shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. his fingertips were going numb from the chill.

the person with the purple umbrella stood right next to tom. tom didn’t look at them, just continued staring at the puddle he was standing in. the person with the purple umbrella said nothing. he heard the rustle of clothes, the turning of a head.

“you look freezing,” purple umbrella said in a soft voice. “come, stand under my umbrella.” tom looked at purple umbrella, bright blue eyes looking back at him. tom looked away, back at the puddle.

“no, i’m fine. thanks though,” he responded, rain dripping down his neck. purple umbrella moved a little closer, and the rain stopped.

“i insist,” they concluded. “you’ll catch a cold in this weather.” tom looked up, greeted by the curve of the umbrella. he looked at the person next to him. they smiled, then took a sip of something that was probably coffee. they’d been holding a to-go cup in their opposite hand. neither of them spoke.

tom couldn’t help but gaze at his rescuer out of the corner of his eye. they had floofy orange hair, freckles splashed across their nose and cheeks, and those sky blue eyes. tom was probably looking at a guy, based on the choice of dress and their voice, but the way their body and face were built made him second guess.

“didn’t your mother ever tell you that staring is rude?” purple umbrella murmured gently. the words weren’t accusing, instead they were almost… teasing. only then did tom realize that he was indeed staring. he looked away quickly, but he did catch purple umbrella smiling from behind their coffee, wispy tendrils of steam drifting upwards.

“sorry,” tom mumbled, feeling his cheeks heat with embarrassment. purple umbrella simply made a hum, a thoughtful hum, delicately sipping their coffee.

it was quiet between them. the only sounds were the rain on the pavement and the soft sipping of coffee.

a bus rumbled up the street, purple umbrella leaning over and attempting to pick out the number and destination of the bus.

“ah, well, this is me,” they said, handing tom their coffee. “hold this for me, won’t you?” a few people standing inside the enclosed seating moved out into the rain. the bus stopped in front of them.

the rain hit tom’s hair again, purple umbrella walking away. he watched the umbrella close and he watched the person climb onto the bus, several others following.

the bus drove away. tom sat down in the covered seating. his hands weren’t as cold anymore, and he looked down, realizing that he was still holding purple umbrella’s coffee. had they left it with him on purpose? there was no way someone could forget something that quickly.

tom looked at the coffee. the coffee didn’t look back at him because it didn’t have eyes. there was a very faint lipstick mark around the open hole. it was clear, so it was probably chapstick or lip gloss. the cup was at least half full, and there was a name scrawled on the side, along with some other things that tom couldn’t read.

“matt,” said the name. tom blinked at the name. it did not blink back.

after a long while, tom opened the coffee lid and raised the cup to his lips. it was warm. it tasted like vanilla and caramel. tom drank the coffee and waited for his bus.

\---

it rained again the next day. the bus wasn’t late this time, but tom had once again conveniently forgotten his umbrella. he realized this when he stepped out into the downpour, but he’d felt too lazy to go back up to his flat and get his umbrella.

the bus stop was similarly crowded. tom stood out in the rain again. he didn’t think he minded. he was standing in another puddle. cold water seeped through his checkered vans. nevermind. he did mind.

“hello,” a familiar voice said to his right. tom turned. purple umbrella, or matt, tom guessed, smiled at him.

“lovely morning, isn’t it?” matt continued, stepping closer and subtly covering tom with his colorful purple umbrella.

“yes, quite lovely,” tom answered, watching matt sip his coffee. his outfit was the same as the day before: a long, winding red scarf, a khaki-colored trench, and worn jeans. yesterday the jeans were gray. today they were black. matt looked nice.

“you look nice,” tom said, voicing his thought. matt looked up at him, the corners of his eyes crinkling. tom noticed the lip stain matt’s cup. it was a quiet shade of pink.

“thank you,” matt replied. he took another sip. they did not speak. the rain dripped delicately off the edges of the umbrella. tom tried to count the drops.

“last night i had a nightmare,” mat said then, breaking the silence. they looked at each other, then looked away. tom snuggled his cold fingers deeper into his pockets.

“yeah?” matt took a sip of his coffee.

“yeah. i was drowning. it was terrifying. i woke up and i still felt like i couldn’t breathe.” tom felt matt’s cloudless sky eyes look at him. tom looked at his soaked-through shoes instead of matt’s face. “what do you nightmare about?” tom thought about this, and he shrugged.

“mmm, i don’t know. death, i guess. empty eyes and empty souls.” their eyes met. “myself.” matt cocked his head at the last word. his freckles were very pretty. tom didn’t voice that particular thought.

“do you terrify yourself?” matt questioned softly. “do you make yourself afraid?” tom broke eye contact, focusing in the squishiness of his socks. he didn’t know how to answer that. his mouth moved, but no sound left him.

“yes,” he concluded after a few seconds. “i think i do terrify myself.” matt went to say something, but he was interrupted by a bus rumbling up the street. it was the exact same bus as yesterday.

“ah, well, that’s me,” matt said with a faint smile, and he handed tom his coffee. “could you hold this for me?” the umbrella left him, and then so did matt, disappearing into the bus. the coffee was warm in tom’s hands, and he looked carefully at the lip stain. when he opened the cup once under the covered seating, steam and vanilla-caramel scent rushed his face. tom smiled without thinking about it.

\---

this became a routine. it rained constantly, and tom would forget his umbrella at home intentionally now. matt would materialize next to him at the bus stop and cover tom with his umbrella. they would chat. they would chat about obscure, odd things, like dreams and jellyfishes, and testy controversial things, like the death penalty and equal rights. they’d chat, then matt’s bus would come. tom would end up alone, and with matt’s coffee, every time.

until one day it didn’t rain. the clouds were an upset gray, covering the sky like a sheet, but no rain. matt did not show up. it was a thursday.

tom stood at the bus stop, amidst plenty of other people who were normally packed in the tiny seating area to get away from the rain. it was odd, not seeing the purple umbrella. it was odd, not hearing matt ramble about ghosts or space. it was odd, not holding the half-empty vanilla caramel coffee with the lipstick mark.

tom felt as if his life had been disrupted. he missed matt. it was an upsetting feeling. he never missed anyone. how long had tom known matt? had it been days or had it been weeks? he felt like he’d known matt forever. forever was a long time.

tom waited in the bleary, waned sunshine. matt’s bus pulled up. people got on the bus, and none of those people were matt. tom’s hands felt empty and cold without a coffee nestled between them. what kind of lip color was matt wearing today? pink, nude, or just chapstick?

there was thunder in the distance. the skies promised rain, but just not right then. matt’s bus drove away. tom waited. he waited for a lot of things.

it didn’t rain for the next two weeks. tom was starting to think that he was going crazy, that he had made matt up in his head this whole time. was that possible? was it possible to imagine up a person like matt? tom felt himself become discontent. waiting for the bus wasn’t any fun anymore.

one day, tom stood at the bus stop, as he did every weekday. the chilly wind bit at his cold cheeks and nose. hands were shoved deep into pockets, toes were curled deeper into socks. tom hated winter. it mirrored him too well.

tom kept standing at the bus stop. he waited. the sky became angry, the clouds became upset. tom waited. matt’s bus came and went. thunder rumbled threateningly above the clouds. tom waited. thunder rolled. a drop of water fell onto the tip of tom’s nose.

it began to drizzle. it was a light pattering of rain, drops flecking tom’s face gently. wet spots bloomed on his jacket. he closed his eyes and breathed with the rain. he’d missed this.

\---

it rained again three days later. this time it was a complete downpour, sheets of rain hitting surfaces from every direction. tom made sure to not forget his umbrella.

tom stood where he normally stood at the bus stop, except he was dry. his checkered, barely-used umbrella did him well. he stood there for a little while, watching the rain pound into the cement sidewalk.

he almost didn’t notice a person running, their feet smacking against the puddles. he almost didn’t notice this person stand next to him, soaked straight through their clothes. tom turned his head, seeing familiar orange hair and familiar blue eyes.

“lovely morning, isn’t it?” matt managed to say, smiling that smile. tom smiled back. he lifted his umbrella a tad, matt coming to stand under it with him. matt’s soaked sleeve pressed desperately into tom’s dry arm.

“yes. quite lovely,” tom answered. matt shivered next to him. tom shifted his umbrella to his left hand, putting his free arm around matt’s shoulders. they did not look at each other.

“what do you think about horoscopes?” matt asked after a silence. “or tarot cards?” tom gazed at matt, who was fiddling idly with a button on his coat.

“hmmm, i don’t know. sometimes they turn out to be true for me, but it’s probably just coincidence.” matt hummed that thoughtful hum. his fingers began to fiddle idly with tom’s hand. tom was okay with this. matt was quiet for a while, then his head found tom’s shoulder. his damp hair sent stray raindrops seeping into tom’s coat.

“i think i believe in them. i’m not entirely convinced, but i think i believe,” matt said then. they were holding hands, a cold hand with a cold hand. tom was okay with this.

“what else do you believe in?” matt didn’t hesitate.

“heaven. stars. truth. free parking.” matt paused. “romance.”

“those are good things to believe in,” tom said. he was about to ask another question, but that bus wheezed up the road. it was the same bus it had always been.

“ah, well, this one’s me,” matt stated. he did not hand tom a coffee. instead, he squeezed tom’s hand before letting go.

“goodbye,” he said, a word that tom had never heard leave his lips. they looked at each other then, people loading into the awaiting bus. matt leaned up and softly pressed a kiss to the corner of tom’s mouth. matt’s lips were warm. tom’s fingers drifted to where lips had met skin.

“goodbye,” he murmured, matt slipping out from under his arm and slipping into the bus. the rain hit the ground with a vengeance. the bus drove away. tom’s fingers left the place where lips had met skin.

he looked at his fingers. the tips were a gentle pink. it was a nice pink, perhaps even a beautiful pink.

tom waited. he waited for a lot of things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi am i the only one who thinks this writing style is awkward and way too concise ??? it reminds me of welcome to night vale,,, if any of u know what that is oof sjakdhfskljdhf
> 
> uh yeah but i think that this came out okay ??? sorta yeah owo


	54. walmart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry oof i’m not dead i’ve just been Busy
> 
> school is literally kicking my ass it’s not fair

“we’re out of bread, aren’t we?” matt said, waking tom from his nap against the car window. tom blinked awake, wiping drool from the side of his face and the window.

“what?” he mumbled, looking blearily at the ginger in the dim light. matt’s face was faintly illuminated by the neon signs on the buildings they passed as he drove. 

“i’m pretty sure we’re out of bread. and ice cream,” matt stated, turning a corner. tom sat up in his seat, running a hand through his hair. he looked at the clock on the dash. the time was pushing almost midnight. why were they even out at this hour? he couldn’t remember. 

“i’m stopping at the store,” tom’s boyfriend informed him, promptly pulling up in a parking spot. tom gazed out the window, peering at the big, lit-up walmart sign that shined upon the basically desolate parking lot.

“i’m just going to pick up a couple things, love. you can stay here if you’d like.” matt pulled the keys out of the ignition, then looked at tom in the low light. all tom could think of was how gorgeous matt looked in the dark. next thing he knew, matt was opening the car door, and was getting out of the car. tom blinked a couple times, matt shutting the door behind him. 

tom stayed in the car for a couple quiet moments, debating whether he should fall back asleep or not, but when he realized that matt was walking alone in the middle of the walmart parking lot at practically midnight, he changed his mind. he climbed out of the car himself, jogging to catch up with matt. the night air was chilly. 

tom watched matt snuggle deeper into his hoodie. he looked really tired. tom smiled a little to himself, then put his arm around matt’s shoulders, pulling him close. matt looked up at him, his mouth just faintly tugging upwards. an “i love you” was murmured, but tom couldn’t tell if it had come from him or the ginger under his arm.

they walked inside the store, the fluorescent lights momentarily blinding them. there were a few other disgruntled, tired people in the store, and tom picked up a shopping basket on their way in. 

“we won’t need that,” matt said softly. “we’re only going to pick up three things.” tom shrugged, holding onto the basket either way. 

“i thought you said we were only getting ice cream and bread. what’s the third thing?” matt’s eyebrows raised like he forgot that he’d said that. 

“um, i don’t know. maybe cola since we always seem to be out.” matt sighed, walking in the direction of the bread. “tom, i’m just really tired right now.” tom chuckled and squeezed matt’s shoulder. 

“i can see that, babe. let me drive on the way back.” they stood in front of the bread display, matt scanning the options. matt tapped his chin, then leaned over and picked the bread that they normally got, dropping it into the shopping basket that tom was holding. matt stood there in front of the bread for a moment, looking lost. 

“ice cream,” tom reminded him. matt made an “ah yes” and started to walk to the freezer section. they passed by a table of cookies and tom watched matt grab a box of cookies and slide it into the basket.

“but you said—” matt put a finger to tom’s lips, shushing him. 

“i am allowed to change my mind, you know.” they walked a couple more steps towards the freezers. “besides, it’s never a bad idea to buy cookies.” tom laughed at that, matt smiling just a little. the smile reached his tired eyes. 

the air became chilly as they walked into one of the many freezer aisles. matt stopped in front of one particular freezer, his eyes skimming the contents. tom pointed at the mint chocolate ice cream, and matt made a hum.

“didn’t you once say that you didn’t like ice cream?” tom inquired as matt opened the freezer door and took out the ice cream to put it in the shopping basket.

“did i say that?” he mumbled, closing the freezer door with his hip. “i guess i like it sometimes and hate it other times. i think i had a three year spurt of hating ice cream a couple months ago, but right now i really can’t get enough of it.” tom squinted at matt. that insight into matt’s mind was incredibly confusing. you either like ice cream, or you don’t. that’s that.

“okay,” tom said slowly. “whatever works for you, babe.” matt stood there in front of the freezer for a moment, tapping his chin. he looked like he thought that he’d forgotten something else, but something made him brighten. he turned to face tom, who had set down the shopping basket.

“do you hear that?” he asked, smiling. tom stared at the ginger, confused. matt took his hands, dancing a little in his spot. 

“hear what,” tom replied flatly. matt let go of his hand to point up at the ceiling for a second, and then he returned his hand to tom’s.

“y’know that one song... ‘all of me’? by that one john guy? it’s playing on the speakers. i like this song a lot, did you know that?” tom couldn’t help but smile, matt gently encouraging him to spin him around. he could hear the song playing just faintly above them, and matt was quietly murmuring the lyrics to himself.

matt pulled tom close, wrapping his sweater-covered arms around tom’s neck. tom’s arms snaked around matt’s waist. slow-dancing in walmart. this was new.

“what’s going on in that beautiful mind?” matt sang softly, resting his head on tom’s chest. “i’m on your magical mystery ride...” they sort of swayed in the middle of the freezer aisle, tom leaning his head down just a little to press a small kiss on matt’s forehead.

“i love you,” he whispered, though he wasn’t sure why he was whispering. matt looked up at him, the corners of his sleepy eyes crinkling. he took a breath, then kissed tom gently on the lips. tom’s eyes fluttered closed, and they kissed, in the middle of the freezer aisle in walmart at a little past midnight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember when i said that i was going to write a royalty tomatt au fic? i lied. i wrote something else instead. i’m going to post that work soon and im so excited bc i’ve got so much planned for it ejfhjajfjjssjjss
> 
> i’m so hype omg


	55. sun and moon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sun and moon au !! requested by psionichurricane !! this is based off of the song [when the day met the night](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPPJQNy7bdI) by panic! at the disco akjdfl
> 
> beware i spent a long time on this so its literally 4k words and out of those 4k words there is a surprisingly small amount of worldbuilding s m h

the earth sky garden was a nice place. beautiful trees dripped pink and yellow blossoms off their branches alongside meticulously kept shrubbery and millions of different flower varieties. there were plenty of pretty hand-carved benches and picnic tables, and it was a hot spot for most constellations and celestial bodies.

tom, however, had only been to the garden maybe twice. see, he was a moon spirit. not many people like moon spirits because of their penchant for darkness and their brooding, cold attitudes. it just so happened that tom fit this category and it sucked. it’s not like he asked to be a moon spirit. he had been nothing, and then in the next second, he was something, and that something was a moon spirit.

the two times he had gone to the earth sky garden, he had gone during the nighttime. he really did admire the beauty of the garden, but he could never admire it in the daytime because all the other people in the garden would look upon him with palpable disdain. they’d herd themselves away from tom, moving to the far corners of the garden so they wouldn’t be near him. 

tom could’ve stayed in his tiny corner of space, looking down upon the earth sky garden, but it was so quiet where he lived. the constellation spirits nearby never spoke to him. it was a lonely existence. tonight, though, tom was feeling more than a little fed up with his current life state, and he figured that he might as well go to the garden while he was still alive and well to do it. people weren’t really down there at this hour of the night. 

the summer air was humid against his skin as he descended down into the sky garden. he was supposed to be watching over the moon and its patterns and such, but it wouldn’t hurt to take a break every once and a while. it was a full moon anyway, the dull light from it beaming down onto the soft grass of the garden. 

tom quietly walked through the immaculately crafted iron gate. there seemed to be no one else there but him tonight. he did catch the eye of some constellation spirits, cassiopeia and leo, but they decided to pay him no mind. tom was grateful for that. he got too many nasty looks these days and it was nice to be relieved of that, if only for one night. 

he continued to walk in the garden, his shoes crunching down on the grass. there was this path lined with these bioluminescent flowers. some glowed a faint blue, and others glowed a subtle purple. he stepped onto the path, probably cobblestone, and just strolled, looking this way and that at all the foliage and nature.

as he walked on, he started to hear this quiet noise. he strained to hear it properly, but as he got closer to the source, it sounded like singing. it wasn’t bad singing, actually it was quite nice, but tom couldn’t tell where exactly it was coming from. his dark cloak trailed behind him as he ducked into a patch of trees nearby. he squinted through the leaves, seeing this small hedge-enclosed area on the other side of these trees. it didn’t seem to be accessible by a path or any other walkway, so tom wasn’t sure how there was someone in there. 

curiosity got the better of him and he leaned more into the leaves to see if he could find anyone. someone did catch his eye, a figure sitting on a fancy redwood bench under a leafy umbrella tree. it was dark out, but this person seemed to almost glow, like those flowers on the path. it was almost like there was an aura of light surrounding them. tom had never seen this person before. they sang softly, words to a song tom had never heard. 

he shifted a little more, feeling like a creep. the person leaned over to the side, to a small table that had a teapot and some cups on it. he watched them pour a cup of tea for themselves, and then bring the steaming teacup to their lips to blow on it. the singing was momentarily interrupted.

they had a long flowing garments, all carefully decorated with tiny spiraling designs. all their clothes were some variation of red, orange, or yellow, with the occasional smatter of a light pink. tom bit the inside of his cheek. they looked rather regal compared to his plain gray cloak, black turtleneck and equally black pants. he did have a couple designs embroidered into his cloak, small white ones that signified the patterns of the moon and the stars around it. it was nothing in the light of this... other person. 

the singing started up again, and tom heard himself sigh. who was this person? he peered at the figure sitting daintily on the bench, sipping tea without a care in the world. at once, it came to him. this was a sun spirit. hadn’t he heard that sun spirits had their own place in the garden? they were basically the top tier celestial everything around here. tom’s mouth opened in a little o. no one really saw sun spirits at all for some reason. he was told once that it was because they were so beautiful. 

he watched the sun spirit drink their tea and admire a patch of pretty flowers nearby. tom accidentally moved, his foot crushing a twig. the sun spirit’s head whipped up, staring at the very direction where tom was standing. tom was frozen in his spot, praying that the trees and the night shielded him well. he held his breath, his heart hammering against his ribs. for a taut, heavy second, there was nothing except silence and staring.

“you can come out,” the sun spirit said, their voice lilting and androgynous. “there’s no need to hide, love.” tom hesitated for a long moment, releasing the breath he’d been holding through his nose. the sun spirit didn’t say anything else, just swirled their tea around in their cup. after another pregnant second, tom stepped out of the trees. even from where he was standing, maybe twenty-five feet away from the umbrella tree, he saw the sun spirit smile. they waved him over in a fluid hand gesture. 

“come and sit, darling,” they said sweetly, patting the space next to them on the redwood bench. tom just shifted his weight to his opposite foot, wanting to shrink back into the trees. his face was hot with embarrassment. he guessed that this was one of the only times that he wanted to be alone. the sun spirit beckoned him again, and tom exhaled a slow breath before walking carefully over to the bench. 

he sat down, the sun spirit beaming at him. tom lifted his eyes to meet the sun spirit’s and his breath was stolen from his lungs. it was true, what they say, that sun spirits were beautiful. this one though, this one was more than beautiful. this one was gorgeous. they had a mop of bright orange hair that sloped a little into their eyes, creamy skin that was dusted with plethoras of freckles, and plush lips that had a tendency to tug upwards into a smile. their eyes were striking, doe-like and a stunning baby blue that was flecked with spots of soft green. long pale lashes lined them. 

“would you like some tea?” the sun spirit asked, snapping tom right out of his daze. he rushed to look away from that incredibly pretty face and stared down at his hands instead. he heard the clink of the teacup on the plate and then the soft gurgle of pouring water.

“milk or honey?” tom looked at the sun spirit, who was gesturing to another steaming teacup. tom merely blinked, his mouth open just a little. the sun spirit smiled softly, taking his silence for quiet consent. tom watched their nimble, slender hands pour just enough milk and just enough honey. a tiny little spoon was used to stir the tea into a pale milky liquid. they handed tom the teacup on the small saucer, and he took it with shaking hands. 

“sorry if i’m a little too forward with myself,” they apologized, playing with the silklike fabric of their shirt. they looked at him, blue eyes to emptiness. “i don’t get visitors very often.” tom shifted his gaze away, taking a slow sip of tea. the tea was sweet, quiet hints of blueberry and possibly lemon. he felt bad for not saying anything, but he wasn’t sure what exactly he should say to this person.

“i’m matt, by the way,” they said after taking a long sip of tea. tom looked up at them then, and their eyes met. tom could get lost in those pools of blue if he looked too long. 

“i’m... tom,” he introduced softly, the first words he had spoken all night. with this new information about the sun spirit’s name, tom felt it at least a little safe to assume them as male. it seemed like a dangerous step to take, as a lot of constellation spirits were agender, like virgo and taurus, for example. matt was rather androgynous, but... still. it would be awkward to ask.

“nice to meet you, tom,” matt said with a smile. the glow around him got a little brighter. it got quiet again, the only sounds being the crickets and the clinking of cups against saucers. tom was watching matt out of the corner of his eye, watching him bring the delicate teacup to his lips over and over. 

“you’re a moon spirit, right?” matt asked after a long moment. tom stared into his half-empty tea cup. 

“yeah. yeah, i am,” tom replied. matt nodded before looking over at the patch of trees beyond that low wall of hedges.

“you look like one.” matt dipped his finger into whatever tea he had left. “you look lonely. and tired.” tom straightened and his brow furrowed over his eyes. his teacup clattered against its saucer when he set it down on his lap, hard. 

“what do you mean? lonely? tired?” he pressed, trying to choose his words carefully. he had literally met this guy ten minutes ago, and he was already making assumptions about him. it’s not like tom actually was... lonely... and tired...

matt didn’t look at him when he responded, just kept gazing at those trees twenty or so feet away from them. he set his teacup and saucer on the small side table next to the bench they were on.

“you wouldn’t have been watching me through the trees if you weren’t lonely,” matt explained softly, like if he spoke any louder, he might make the leaves fall from the trees. “and i can tell you’re tired. you’ve got dark circles under your eyes and your hands shake when you hold the teacup.” tom swallowed, wanting to vanish. matt was right. 

“sorry if i offended you,” matt murmured, swinging his feet against the grass. he was barefoot, his feet covered with smatters of freckles, as was every patch of skin on him. “i was just... making an observation.” 

“n... no, no. you’re fine,” tom heard himself say. “it’s all true.” matt looked at him then, chewing on his bottom lip. tom looked back at him, though he couldn’t stop his eyes from flicking to that mouth. his heart pounded, but he wasn’t sure why. eye contact lasted longer than tom intended and he felt a flush creep up his neck. why was he getting flustered?

matt was the one who looked away first, a tiny smile on his lips. was that a tint of pink on his cheeks? tom let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. his heart still beat fast. 

when he left the garden many hours later, after many delayed goodbyes with matt, he went back to his little corner of space. he crawled into bed once he had shed himself of his moon spirit clothes and pulled on more comfortable sleepwear. he drew the sheets up to his chin and closed his eyes. tomorrow was the moon was going to be waning. he needed to make sure all the conditions were optimum. typical moon spirit stuff.

though, when he tried to drift off into sleep, all he could think about was matt and his eyes of pure blue. the freckles splattered across his cheeks and nose like wayward constellations. that soft smile. the way he would tuck strands of hair behind his ear. how he would bite his bottom lip when he was trying not to laugh. the singing. the tea. 

oh god. he couldn’t stop. his face burned with a blush and his heart hammered in his chest. he twisted the sheets in his hands. he brought his knees up to his chest, curling up into a flustered ball of nerves. he couldn’t think about anything else, just matt, only matt.

love at first sight wasn’t real, right?

——

he couldn’t sleep at all that night. he drank at least three cups of coffee the next morning, exhausted to his very core. even then, he couldn’t get matt out of his mind. he was supposed to be focused on the moon. he might have overwaned it in his distraction, but he decided that it wasn’t worth all the trouble to try and fix it.

the day dragged on and on and on. tom just sat in his room all day long, staring at the wall opposite his bed. he really should have been outside doing all that cool moon spirit stuff, but his head was somewhere else. he hadn’t even gotten out of his pajamas.

matt. matt. matt. that’s all he could think about. his mind raced a thousand miles an hour, but his body was aching for sleep. tom got up from the end of his bed with an effort. time to get another cup of hot black coffee. coffee as black as the night sky.

tom stared at the coffee machine in the kitchen, watching the liquid drip, drip, drip into the pot. he leaned his arms onto the counter, hearing the quiet whirr of the machine. he stayed like that for a while, waiting for his coffee to finish. the ground coffee bean smell wafted up and filled the room. tom exhaled a long breath and straightened when the coffee machine let out a brief beep of completion.

his eyes scanned the dirty, dish-filled kitchen counter for a somewhat clean cup. he spotted a mug in the sink that he had drank out of earlier that morning, and he snatched it from the sink and began to pour steaming coffee into the cup.

his thoughts immediately drifted to matt. again. those eyes. such a bright, pure blue. he couldn’t unsee them. they were burned into his memory. every time he closed his eyes, that’s all he saw. he loved it and he hated it at the same time. he let out a sigh, the type of sigh you would normally hear coming from lovesick teenage girls. he felt himself smile dorkily, his eyes lidded. 

suddenly, he felt a hot, scalding liquid pouring all over his hand and wrist, and he jumped back, dropping the coffee pot onto the floor, coffee splattering everywhere as the plastic of the pot cracked with a sickening noise. tom held his arms away from him, his pajamas covered with coffee. the hand that had gotten poured over was beginning to bloom an alarming shade of red. 

he had overfilled his mug, and there was even more coffee spreading across the counter. tom sucked in a quick, angry breath, upset that it had gotten to this point. the whole kitchen was filled to the brim with the suddenly icky smell of coffee. tom thought that he almost felt bile crawling up his throat at the scent.

after taking a shower, changing into his moon spirit clothes, and attempting to clean up the mess he’d made, tom sat down at the kitchen table and drank his now lukewarm cup of coffee. he took slow, careful sips, trying his best not to cause another coffee disaster. he also tried his hardest to not think about that sun spirit, his smile, his hair, the glow of his aura, his so very blue eyes, his laugh, the way he’d say tom’s name, his—

jesus, he was doing it again! he was never going to get this guy out of his mind, was he? ugh, why did he even go to the garden last night? that was probably the worst mistake he’d ever made. he suddenly heard matt’s laugh echo through his mind, and he made that lovesick sigh again. on second thought, maybe that was the best mistake he’d ever made. he’d never felt like this before. 

the day kept dragging on, night seeming to fall at a much slower pace than usual. as soon as the sun dipped into its resting place, tom shot out of his house and down to the garden. he was gonna go and find matt and tell him... and tell him what? he exhaled a flustered breath, feeling the heat rise to his face. tell him how he couldn’t stop thinking about how perfect he was? tell him how much he wanted to stare at his face for the rest of his life? tell him how his laugh sounded like the most beautiful music ever created? 

he didn’t know. it was all too sudden. he had only known matt a couple hours and the fact that he had become smitten with him in those few hours was a little unsettling. he didn’t know what he was going to do with himself. he pulled at the collar of his turtleneck, chewing on his lip. his shoes clicked against the pathway, the one lined with those pretty glowing flowers. he heard the singing before he saw the trees.

he hesitated for a long while, just standing in front of the thick patch of trees for a moment. his heart pounded in his ribcage. the song matt was singing today was different than the one from yesterday. he stood there, staring at the manicured grass and the occasional mushroom. before matt, he had just been... barely hanging on. those pools of blue saved his life. they saved him. 

he took a deep breath, the chirping of crickets filling the warm summer night’s air. he was just going to ask if he could... sit a while. things would go their course, he guessed.

he slipped into the trees, coming out of the other side and standing at the wall of neat hedges. matt looked up from his cup of tea, and then beamed, beamed brighter than the sun that he watched over. he scooted over on the bench, some stray leaves from the umbrella tree overhead drifting onto the wood. tom’s face absolutely erupted with a blush. matt was so happy to see him.

he took his time going over to matt, trying to act like he didn’t care, when in actuality he cared more than anything in the world. matt had already poured him a cup of tea by the time he sat down next to him. the delicately crafted teacup was warm when tom took it, and he couldn’t help but notice how their fingers brushed when he took the cup from matt. matt’s aura was bright today, brighter than yesterday.

it was quiet for a little bit, the only sounds being the sipping of tea and the soft wind through the tree above them. tom was trying his best not to catch matt’s eye. trying not to gaze at that beautiful face for too long. at least four minutes passed of complacent silence, then matt turned to him. he said nothing, just took a sip of his tea and looked. tom looked back, setting his teacup and saucer down on his lap. they looked at each other for a little while, and it seemed like matt was expecting tom to say something.

the heat that had become all too familiar to tom over the past twenty four hours crept into his cheeks. matt was studying him, gazing at him up and down with those blue eyes. his aura shined just a little brighter. 

“would it be alright,” tom started slowly, shifting his gaze down to the teacup in his lap. “if we just sat and talked for a little while?” he looked back at matt, a tiny smile on his face. he could feel the blush intensify. “if in exchange for your time, i gave you... this smile?” woah. he had no idea where that last part came from. matt’s mouth curved up into a smile of his own, and tom could have sworn that his cheeks were dusted with a blush.

“that’s okay,” matt said, carefully tucking some hair behind his ear. “as long as you can make a promise not to break my little heart or leave me alone all summer.” the words made tom straighten a bit, his face absolutely erupting pink. matt was gingerly biting his nail, his face equally as red. his blue eyes were shy, gently staring at tom. they sat there for a moment, just staring and blushing in the other’s direction.

tom’s heart pounded. he was almost sure that matt could hear it too. he was the first to break the staring-blushing cycle, bashfully looking at his teacup. his hands shook like leaves when he went to pick it up and sip at the remaining tea, but, like the flustered idiot he was, he spilled it all over his pants. the tea wasn’t exactly hot, more warm, but it was still terribly embarrassing. incredibly embarrassing. 

“oh- oh, god,” he heard himself say, matt releasing a tiny gasp. he pressed his lips together, his ears burning. matt scooted closer to him, some sort of handkerchief in his hand.

“s-sorry, i’m dumb,” tom mumbled, matt’s hand hovering over his wet thighs. he began to carefully dab at tom’s legs. the handkerchief was beautifully decorated, just like the flowing robes matt was always wearing, covered in swirling patterns. 

“n...no, no, you’re fine!!” matt rushed to say, quickly lifting his head to look up at tom, his hand slowing when their noses nearly touched. tom sucked in a surprised breath, his eyes wide. matt’s face was a rather gorgeous pink color, his pupils big and round. they were frozen there, rapt, their lips just mere inches from touching. 

in a quick second, matt moved away, his eyes frantic and his hands twisting the damp handkerchief. he didn’t scoot away back to the other end of the bench though, tom’s tea-soaked pant leg just barely pressing against matt’s leg. they were quiet for a moment, intentionally not meeting each other’s gaze. the fact that they’d only known each other for little over a day didn’t seem like a truth. 

the silence stretched almost a minute, then matt shifted ever so slightly and tom felt a soft, brief peck on the cheek. if possible, he blushed even more, his mouth hanging open a little. when he turned to look at the apparent culprit, matt had buried his face in his hands, his ears an alarming shade of red. 

“ahh sorry!!” he cried, his shoulders drawn up to his ears. “i don’t know what came over me there!” tom was in a state of paralysis, his hand carefully coming up to touch the place where matt had kissed him. 

“oh... n... no, you’re good,” tom breathed. matt just barely peeked up at him from his hands. tom’s heart was beating so fast, and he hurriedly leaned down and kissed matt on the temple. matt gave that tiny gasp again, looking at tom properly now. they sort of stared at each other in shock of what they both had just done.

suddenly, matt started to giggle, his hands covering his mouth. tom exhaled a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding, beginning to laugh himself. they laughed together, their faces flushed and their smiles dorky. 

whatever this feeling was, it felt great. tom loved it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guys im so stressed and busy right now and im really sorry if updates come slow for this ????? ive got a lot going on + my new weird fic that i cant seem to stop writing askjf im actually really sorry aaaa


	56. closet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow i !!!!!!! havent posted in like two months,,, sorry yall,,, things have been a Mess and i've been really into my other weird fic thing that i have up but,,, here's this lil oneshot that i really like uwu
> 
> hopefully you like thissssss,,, idk if im gonna still be on hiatus after this but we'll see owo

matt’s phone buzzed in his back pocket, making this loudish vibrating noise against the chair he was sitting in. he was in the middle of biology, one of his least favorite classes, and he stifled a sigh and pulled his phone out of his pocket. he tried to be as discreet as he could, even though the teacher, mrs. tanner, really wasn’t paying any attention to what the students were doing. he couldn’t risk getting his phone taken away. again. 

the lock screen said that tom had texted him. tom was in geometry right now, if matt remembered correctly, and he didn’t like that class either, so they often texted each other during this period. matt unlocked his phone and went to the messaging app, tom’s text popping up. 

“u n me. closet. 5 mins” the text read, and matt bit back a smile. of course. the closet. a couple weeks ago, tom had found an abandoned janitor’s closet in the english wing of the school, and it had sort of become their place to go when they didn’t want to be in class. sometimes they would just talk about things while in there, other times they’d kiss until the bell rang. matt wasn’t sure what exactly they were going to do this time around since tom hadn’t particularly specified, but he’d find out eventually. all he had to do now was get out of class. 

he waited several minutes before trying to leave. when mrs. tanner started to tell everyone that they were going to pair up and do some sort of worksheet on ecosystems and biomes, matt shot his hand up and asked to go to the bathroom. mrs. tanner sighed. 

“sure. go ahead,” she said to him, and matt flashed her a quick smile and tried to make it seem like he wasn’t taking his backpack to the bathroom when that was exactly what he was doing, except just not to the bathroom. he slipped out of the classroom without anyone pointing out his extra baggage and started his way down the hall.

there weren’t any other people in the hall, besides some of the kids that were known for skipping class so often that the teachers had given up on trying to get them to come to class. he nodded hello to one of them as he passed by the science wing bathrooms, turning the corner. his shoes tapped against the white linoleum floor, the only noise in the hallway besides the soft murmuring of teachers behind the doors of their classrooms. matt exhaled, shrugging his backpack so it would rest more comfortably on his shoulders.

he turned another corner, coming up on the english wing. he could already see the barely cracked open door of the janitors closet on the left side of the hall, two doors down from his fifth period english class. he shifted from walking to nearly running to the closet, skidding to a stop in front of the door. he paused for a second, looking around the hallway for anyone who might be watching him, and then slipped inside of the small space, shutting the door behind him,

tom was already there, sitting on the floor with a bag of doritos (because for some reason he brought whole bags of chips to school. what a dork). when matt walked in, tom looked up and smiled this big, cheesy smile and stood up from where he was sitting.

“hey, babe,” he said, and matt smiled, moving to hug his boyfriend. he wrapped his arms around tom’s middle, breathing in the soft laundry detergent smell of his clothes. tom pecked his forehead, and matt looked up at him, his lips tugging upwards.

“hello, my darling,” he replied, reaching up and caressing tom’s cheek with the side of his thumb. his heart knotted when he saw tom’s ears redden. he’d never get tired of seeing tom blush. tom pulled away from the hug, a tiny smile on his face, and he sat back down on the cold concrete floor next to his dorito bag.

“you don’t have to call me that, you know,” tom informed, moving his bag of chips and patting the place where it had resided to make matt sit. matt rolled his eyes, curled his legs to the side when he sat down and tweaked tom’s nose with his forefinger. 

“oh please,” he teased, letting his finger drift down tom’s face, ghosting his lips and chin. “i know you like it.” he paused a second, brushing a minuscule chip crumb from tom’s bottom lip. “baby.” tom averted his gaze, the red from his ears seeping into his cheeks. matt’s heart choked on a beat again. wow, he loved this nerd so much. 

tom leaned his back against one of the tall, empty shelves and started to pry off his shoes with his feet. matt watched him do this, then drew his legs up to his chest to begin untying the laces on his converse. 

“hey, you know something?” tom said as matt took off his shoes. matt looked at him, taking off his left shoe. tom popped a dorito into his mouth, chewing on it thoughtfully. “i read somewhere that when you look at something you love, your pupils dilate.” matt kicked off his other shoe and scooted closer to tom, close enough for their sock-covered feet to be touching. 

“that’s a pretty cool fact,” matt stated, reaching into the bag of chips and taking a handful, his hand coming out with orange chip dust all over it. when he looked up at tom, their faces were close. 

“i wanna see if it’s true.” matt felt himself smile, and he put a chip on his tongue and let it sit there when he closed his mouth. “look away.” matt obeyed, looking at his backpack by the door of the closet. he was suddenly reminded that he didn’t do his algebra homework. 

“look at me,” tom said, his voice in a whisper now. matt slowly dragged his gaze back to tom, meeting his eyes, those pools of dark, endless night skies. tom let out this little fluttering gasp, his mouth in a perfect o. 

“it’s true— you love me,” he breathed, looking relieved and stunned and totally in love all at the same time. matt couldn’t restrain a giggle, chewing on the chip in his mouth. 

“of course i love you, silly!” he told him when he’d swallowed. “i love you so much. i’d do anything for you.” matt put his handful of chips back in the bag and wiped his hand on his jeans. it left a streak of orange nacho dust on his leg, which was unappealing, but he’d fix it later. he took tom’s hand in his, their breathing basically in sync. tom’s lips parted just slightly. 

“anything?” he repeated, still whispering, which was cute. “you’d do anything for me?” matt smiled softly, his chest swimming with gooey, gushy feelings. there was so much he wanted to say to this boy, so many things he felt for him. it was impossible to compress it all into a couple sentences. he rubbed tom’s cheek with his free hand. tom tilted his head, welcome to the contact.

“i’d do anything for you,” he whispered back. “i think i’d die for you.” tom’s mouth twitched a little at that. one of them squeezed the other’s hand, but matt wasn’t sure who.

“why do you love me?” tom asked after a beat of them just sitting there. “how did… someone as perfect and beautiful and amazing as you come to love someone like me? i’m such a dork.” matt grinned. 

“yes,” he agreed, leaning a little closer and rubbing noses with tom. “you’re such a dork, but you’re the cutest, funniest, most caring, sweetest, best dork i’ve ever met in my entire life.” matt dared to close the remaining space between them and kiss tom quickly on the mouth. he pulled back after about two seconds, resting their foreheads against each other. “i couldn’t not love you, you know? you’re too perfect not to love.” he stroked the back of tom’s hand with his thumb. he could feel tom’s breath on his cheeks. 

“matt,” tom started, licking his lips, probably tasting the cherry chapstick matt had on. matt let out a little hum, a questioning type hum, his eyes lidded. 

“i’m so in love with you.” matt pulled back, feeling a full body blush coming on. tom wasn’t even looking at him, his gaze trained on something to the side. he was all red. it was perfect.

suddenly tom met his eyes, looked straight into him with that one gaze, seeing every single part of him and, at that moment, matt felt like their hearts might be beating exactly the same, in tune with each other. 

“do you wanna get married or something?” was what tom blurted out next. “like… in ten years, i mean. i just– i’m really into you and i’m pretty sure i want to spend the rest of my life waking up next to you and seeing you smile and i… i’m like… so in love with you, it’s not even funny.” matt forgot how to breathe, his whole body choking on what air that remained. 

“kiss me,” he exhaled, practically begging. “i love you so much– just– you’re so wonderful and i need to spend every waking hour i have with you because my life means nothing if you’re not in it and i–” their foreheads bumped each other, and tom kissed him, put a hand on his cheek and kissed him so hard and so passionate that matt got lightheaded after a couple seconds. 

dizzy and way too in love, matt fisted the front of tom’s wrinkly black t-shirt with both hands and pulled him closer, kissed him deeper. they were almost sucking face, their lips colliding and tripping over each other over and over. tom’s nimble bass-playing fingers threaded into his hair and suddenly he was moving, plopping himself right down on matt’s lap, his legs on either side of him.

matt breathed hot into tom’s mouth, his hands releasing the fabric in his fingers and sliding up to wrap around tom’s neck. tom nipped at his bottom lip, pulling on it delicately with his teeth. that very action drove matt absolutely insane, and he exhaled a gasp of tom’s name when tom’s nails grazed his scalp. 

“say it again,” tom murmured, shifting so he was sitting more comfortably on matt’s lap. “please.” they were far enough apart that matt could stare straight into his deep, dark eyes, but close enough to feel his breath. matt fiddled with the collar of tom’s shirt. 

“tom,” he said softly. “tom, i love you.” tom visibly melted, the blush in his cheeks bright pink. he squeezed the sides of matt’s face briefly, then gently reached up and took off matt’s glasses, setting them on the floor next to them. 

“perfect,” he breathed, his thumb trailing down matt’s face, lingering next to his mouth. “you’re perfect. so fucking goddamn perfect.” he leaned in closer, their noses brushing. “i don’t know what i did to deserve you.”

“you existed,” matt said against tom’s lips. “that’s what you did.” he heard tom mumble something that sounded like “oh my god,” and then they were kissing again, everything else fading away until it was just matt and tom and these kisses.

“i love you,” tom whispered in between every kiss. “i love you. i love you.” matt almost felt like crying, tom’s lips drifting and starting to kiss the corner of his mouth, the side of his face, down his neck. forget waiting ten years to get married. he wanted to get married now, right now, in this closet. he wanted to hold tom for the rest of his life, to kiss him, to tell him that he loved him every single fucking moment of every single fucking day.

tom wasn’t kissing him anymore, just sitting there on his lap with his face buried in the crook of his neck. matt was okay with this, his hands sliding down the front of tom’s shirt. before he could think, he stuck his hands up tom’s shirt, wrapping his arms around him and feeling the warmth of tom’s soft skin. tom sighed into his neck. matt could feel the gentle brushes of tom’s eyelashes against his skin. they felt like tiny little butterflies.

“would you really marry me?” matt asked quietly, his left forefinger tracing small circles on tom’s back. he felt tom smile, and that made him smile.

“hell yeah,” tom replied, moving his face just a little so he wouldn’t speak right into matt’s neck. “you’d be my beautiful husband and that would make me so fucking happy.” matt’s heart seized and then melted into a pile of goop in his chest. the both of them breathed at the same time, softly inhaling and exhaling, every part of them connected. maybe if he concentrated hard enough, he could feel what tom felt, thought what he thought, as if they were one being, one person. a long moment passed without either of them talking, just quiet breathing. warm bodies, warm clothes, warm, gushy feelings.

“i love you,” matt said, holding tom as close as he could.

“i know,” tom said, then kissed his neck. it was the most gentle neck kiss tom had ever given him, something filled with so many emotions and so much love that matt just closed his eyes and thanked whatever god that had sent this boy to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mushy gushy boys in love make my heart nut


End file.
